Kansas Geological Survey honors employee

LAWRENCE — A web specialist at the Kansas Geological Survey received the second annual KGS Outstanding Support Staff Recognition Award. The KGS is based at the University of Kansas.

Dana Adkins-Heljeson, KGS web manager, was presented the award for his work on the website, which features technical databases, interactive maps, educational materials, a bibliography of Kansas geology and online KGS publications.

In coordination with KGS scientists and staff, Adkins-Heljeson helps design, develop and monitor the web content and makes otherwise complex information and data accessible to a varied audience, from oil producers to school children.

“Dana contributes to the KGS in a host of ways, all without calling attention to himself,” said Rex Buchanan, KGS interim director. “He is a key player in creating the rich content on our website, and his organization of the site is one of the main reasons it is so heavily used by the oil and gas and water communities in the state as well as the scientific community and general public.”

The website includes interactive maps showing oil and gas production, water-well data and recent earthquake activity in the state, the most recent oil and gas production data for Kansas, a High Plains aquifer atlas and an educational site about the state’s geology and natural resources.

Adkin-Heljeson creates charts and narratives for the web page that explain the natural resource data to the user, creates applications to maintain the various databases, scans oil and gas documents, and participates in exhibits and presentations at meetings of professional scientific societies.

Before coming to the KGS in 1983, Adkins-Heljeson was a bibliographer for the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. At the KGS, prior to being web manager, he collected and interpreted gravity and aeromagnetic data, wrote mapping software and was a database programmer. He received his bachelor’s degree in basic sciences from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

Adkins-Heljeson was presented a cash award and certificate in a December recognition ceremony. The award, established in 2013, is presented annually to a support staff member who has excelled in such areas as innovation, problem solving and leadership.

The Kansas Geological Survey, a nonregulatory research and service division of the University of Kansas, studies and provides information on the state's geologic resources, particularly rocks and minerals, oil and gas, and groundwater.