Categories: General Market Commentary
Topics: General Market Commentary

Professor Hopes to Transform Geology with Gift

My son, Jeff, is currently attending the University of Texas at El Paso, UTEP pursing a degree in Geology with a soon to follow Masters in Geophysics. This is a personal story for me. I have taken Jeff with me to several investment conferences, San Francisco and New York. He has had the opportunity to visit with some of the most respected names in the business and I am proud he has chosen this profession.

Jeff forwarded this article to me last night, “Professor Hopes to Transform Geology With Gift”, a really cool story, which we would like to share with you.

In short,

…”A degree in geology isn’t usually thought of as a money maker.
However, Philip Goodell, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at The University of Texas at El Paso, is out to change that mindset and prove the field’s possibilities.

After leaving El Paso to attend Yale University and Harvard University, Goodell eventually returned in 1975 to teach at UTEP. Over the years, his expertise in the field has allowed him to advise a number of companies, such as Exxon Minerals, Chevron Minerals Corp., Energy Metals Inc., and Tigris Uranium in their endeavors.

“Goodell isn’t your typical academician,” said William Sheriff, a UTEP geology alumnus who is currently chairman of four mining companies – Golden Predator Corp., Silver Predator Corp., Tigris Uranium Corp., and Wolfpack Gold Corp. “There’s usually a real detachment between the academic world and the entrepreneurial world, but Phil has a vision to bridge that.”

Here's the wonderful story for all readers:

Professor Hopes to Transform Geology with Gift

By Nadia Macias

UTEP News Service

A degree in geology isn’t usually thought of as a moneymaker.

However, Philip Goodell, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at The University of Texas at El Paso, is out to change that mindset and prove the field’s possibilities.Philip Goodell, Ph.D., and his wife, Kathy, pledged $1 million to UTEP. It's the largest single donation to date by a faculty member. Photo by J.R. Hernandez / UTEP News ServicePhilip Goodell, Ph.D., and his wife, Kathy, pledged $1 million to UTEP. It's the largest single donation to date by a faculty member. Photo by J.R. Hernandez / UTEP News Service

He and his wife, Kathy, recently pledged $1 million to the department. The gift is the largest to the College of Science to date, and it is the largest single gift made by a faculty member to any college or school at the University. 

Although it’s not yet official, Goodell would like to help start a center for entrepreneurial geosciences with the donation.

“You can use rocks, geology, and the Earth to create wealth,” he said. “Mines, oil – things that society uses.”

Born and raised in El Paso, Goodell himself is an example of an entrepreneurial geologist who started out small.

“When I was 10 years old I decided to sell rocks at the bus stop,” he laughed. “I thought, why couldn’t I enrich their lives with pretty rocks and they enrich mine with their spare change?”

After leaving El Paso to attend Yale University and Harvard University, Goodell eventually returned in 1975 to teach at UTEP. Over the years, his expertise in the field has allowed him to advise a number of companies, such as Exxon Minerals, Chevron Minerals Corp., Energy Metals Inc., and Tigris Uranium in their endeavors.

After advising friends about silver mines in Batopilas, Mexico, Goodell even had Mag Silver Corp.’s mining project named after him – Don Fippi. In English the phrase translates to professor “Phippi,” his childhood nickname. Because of his influence, he received stock in the company.

“Goodell isn’t your typical academician,” said William Sheriff, a UTEP geology alumnus who is currently chairman of four mining companies – Golden Predator Corp., Silver Predator Corp., Tigris Uranium Corp., and Wolfpack Gold Corp. “There’s usually a real detachment between the academic world and the entrepreneurial world, but Phil has a vision to bridge that.”

Goodell served as Sheriff’s thesis adviser during the late 1970s, and they have maintained a friendship ever since.

“He’s a very interesting guy that adds color and enthusiasm as opposed to dry, typical lecturing – he’s just a great motivational factor for students,” Sheriff said.

Examples of the professor’s spirit include famous spring break trips to Mexico with his geology students to explore underground mines, mineral collecting through abandoned tunnels near Durango, Colo., and even buying wholesale rocks in El Paso and selling them up north to help fund graduate school.

Sheriff, who has more than 30 years of experience in mineral exploration and development, is himself another case-in-point of the potential of an entrepreneurial geologist.

He has started and helped start some 15 to 20 mining companies, a number of which have been listed on the Toronto, Vancouver, American, and New York stock exchanges.

His biggest success story was in 2007 when he took Energy Metals Corp., a uranium company, to the New York stock exchange and sold it out for $1.8 billion to Uranium One. Sheriff served as chairman of the company prior to its sale.

Sheriff believes Goodell’s dream of a center for entrepreneurial geosciences is an excellent idea with a lot of potential. He said he wished there was a school that could teach students what he has learned in the past 20 years in just two years.

“There is nobody out there with this niche of preparing people for the mining industry,” he said. “And there needs to be. It needs to be interdisciplinary, with a touch of metallurgy, engineering, business, accounting, finance, and more – that is what is sorely missing and it’s a heck of an opportunity.”

He added, “For example, when I hire geology students that have just graduated, I spend the first two years teaching them what they don’t know and deprogramming them. I was very well prepared when I came out of universities, but I didn’t have a clue how to look for a gold deposit or how to run a company.”

Goodell’s gift serves as the initial donation to start the center and “get things going,” he said. The department’s goal is $10 million. Goodell hopes that if others see someone like him making a gift, it may inspire them to contribute to UTEP’s commitment to academic and research excellence by making their own generous gift as well. 

Stephen Aley, Ph.D., interim dean of the College of Science, said Goodell's gift is a tremendous vote of confidence for the student education mission of the Department of Geological Sciences and UTEP. 

“Here is a professor who has given of himself for decades, teaching and mentoring students, and he chooses to give even more,” he said.

Two other entrepreneurs that have stemmed from UTEP’s Department of Geological Sciences are Lloyd Krumrey and Charlie Steen, “The Uranium King” of the 1950s.

“UTEP’s history is the School of Mines,” Sheriff said. “[This center] could return it to a level of prominence that it hasn’t seen in that arena in a long time. If there were graduates from this program, I’d hire four of them tomorrow – one to run each of my companies.”