Alan S. Kornacki

Alan Stanley Kornacki (born May 4, 1952, in Bayonne, New Jersey) is an American geologist and retired Army colonel, currently the Senior Staff Geochemist at Shell International Exploration and Production Inc. He received a B.S. in Geology from University of Missouri–Rolla in 1974, before completing his M.S. and Ph.D. in Geology at Harvard University in 1984, on a Graduate Research Fellowship. His dissertation focused on refractory inclusions in Carbonaceous Chondrites. He began a career in the petroleum industry in 1985 when he joined Shell USA. In 1981, he was awarded the Nininger Meteorite Award, and in 2008 he was awarded a professional degree by University of Missouri–Rolla. Alan Kornacki is most known for his characterization of wax from deep water crude oil, an important obstacle in modern drilling and refining technology, and his research on new sources of hydrocarbons such as oil shale.