Celebrating Women’s History Month! Woman Presidents of AEG

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, AEG would like to highlight and celebrate some of our notable female leaders, specifically our Woman Presidents. 


Mavis Kent


Susan Steele Weir

Our first Woman Association President was Mavis Kent, of the Oregon Chapter (formerly Section), who served in 1991.  During Ms. Kent’s years on the EC (typically an EC member serves 5 years), she initiated AEG’s transition to a paid Annual Meeting Manager in response to our meetings getting larger and more popular.  Following her term on the EC and after retirement from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, she started her own consulting firm: Plateau Geoscience Group.   

In 1996, AEG President Susan Steele Weir took the reins.  Ms. Weir has been attending AEG meetings since 1973, and joined as a member of AEG in 1977.  Following her term as President, she chaired the AEG committee that was formed to select AEG’s first Executive Director, Norm Tilford.  Over the years, Ms. Weir has served on the AEG Foundation Board and developed several scholarships, including the Women of Steele Award, which supports the next generation of Woman Geoscientists.  Ms. Weir, along with Deb Green, consistently co-sponsors the Women in AEG / AWG event at the Annual Meeting where Ms. Weir often recalls the early days of her education and career when women were thought to be “bad luck” and were not allowed to go underground within mines.  How times have changed! 

The year 2008 marked AEG’s third Woman President, Dorian Kuper.  During her term on the EC, her priorities included reaching out to other societies to increase the visibility of AEG and promote AEG as a home for both environmental and engineering  geologists.  Later Ms. Kuper, along with her mother, created the Beadsley-Kuper Field Camp Scholarship through the Foundation, which funds undergraduate attendance at Field Camp programs that have a strong engineering and/or environmental geology emphasis. Ms. Kuper also co-founded a consulting business with her husband (Kuper Consulting, LLC) and now resides in Montana.

In 2012, Jennifer Bauer became AEG President, and furthered AEG’s mission of advocating the value of environmental and engineering geology to the general public.  Building upon the skills she gained while serving on the Executive Council, she formed her own landslide consulting business: Appalachian Landslide Consultants, based in Asheville, North Carolina.  Ms. Bauer continues to serve AEG in leadership roles including co-chairing the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee with Deb Green.


Dorian Kuper
Jennifer Bauer
Cynthia Palomares

2020’s AEG President, Cynthia Palomares, became an AEG member as a student at Texas A&M University and later joined the EC as a way to give back to the geoscience community.  Ms. Palomares reflects on her role as President of the Association during a global pandemic as a challenging, but rewarding opportunity to adapt AEG’s mission to provide a better online connection to our members.  Ms. Palomares spearheaded the formation of the AEG Webinar series, which has hosted 22 presentations to date and continues to be a successful addition to AEG’s resources for professionals and students.  In addition, Ms. Palomares advanced AEG’s social media presence including the addition of blogs “because students are the future of AEG and students use virtual communications including social media as a primary means of communication.”


Maddie German

Sarah Kalika

 Future Presidents-to-be on the Executive Council include Maddie German, who will step into the Presidential role this fall (as the 2022 President), and Sarah Kalika, who will take on this challenge as the 2024 President.  We look forward to their tenures and also appreciate their commitment to AEG!AEG is proud of and grateful for our woman presidents and all of our outstanding leaders on the Executive Council, Board of Directors, Operational Committees, Technical Working Groups, and Chapter Boards.   Without you, AEG would not be an outstanding leader in our profession!

If you’re interested in participating in a volunteer position, contact President Bill Godwin ([email protected]) or Association Manager Sheri Maskow ([email protected]).   

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