John E. Johnston III, PG, CPG

Research Associate (Part Time)
Email: hammer@lsu.edu
Telephone: 225-578-5320

John is a Part-time Research Associate of the Louisiana Geological Survey. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in geological sciences from the University of Southern California and the University of Texas and served as a geologist for Shell Oil Company, Exxon Company, USA, and the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology. He has variously served as part-time faculty and taught petroleum engineering, English, geography, and geology at Louisiana State University (LSU) and taught geology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL), where he was an adjunct full professor. John currently serves as chairman of the Louisiana Stratigraphic Commission and is a past president and past director of the Baton Rouge Geological Society. Johnston joined the LGS - when it was still part of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) - from Exxon as a Senior Research Geologist, was later named Chief Economic Geologist and then Deputy Director, and also served for several years as the acting head of the LGS. His title changed to Assistant Director when the Louisiana Legislature transferred the LGS from DNR to LSU in 1997. Johnston is the author and/or co-author of a number of publications, including the Official Stratigraphic Charts of Louisiana. His areas of particular expertise are environmental geology, petroleum geology, coal geology, and subsurface geology. LGS emergency support teams under John's leadership, detached from the LGS during critical emergencies, have been repeatedly commended for their emergency, scientific support, mapping, and search and rescue efforts during and after hurricanes - including Andrew, Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike - and have been credited with saving lives. John is a Certified Professional Geologist and a Licensed Professional Geoscientist and is the recipient of a Louisiana Governor's Award for outstanding public service. He was appointed by the governor to the Louisiana Board of Professional Geoscientists in 2012. John is also a published fiction and non-fiction author and a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) as well as a recipient of SFWA's highest honor.