Dr. Batzle held the Baker Hughes Distinguished Chair of Petrophysics and Borehole Geophysics at the Colorado School of Mines, where he was a member of the geophysics department for 17 years. Before his career at CSM, he was a principal scientist at ARCO Oil and Gas Company in Plano, Texas. His main interests were in rock properties research primarily for engineering and geophysical purposes, as well as seismic lithology, fluid identification, reservoir characterization, and time-lapse seismic monitoring. He also conducted borehole geophysics research and development, and holds several U.S. patents on tool designs. Dr. Batzle passed away unexpectedly in January, 2015.