Biography
Walter Schmidt
Florida Geological Survey
Tallahassee, Florida
Dr. Schmidt is the Chief of the Florida Geological Survey and the State Geologist of Florida. He received an A.S. in oceanographic technology from the Florida Institute of Technology, a B.A. in geology from the University of South Florida, Tampa, and both an M.S. and Ph.D. in geology from Florida State University in Tallahassee.
Dr. Schmidt spent one year as a microfossil lab technician with the Sedimentation Laboratory at FSU before working with the Northwest Florida Water Management District as an Assistant Geologist for one year. For the last twenty-two years he has been with the Florida Geological Survey, beginning as a District Geologist, then advancing to Section Administrator of the Geologic Investigations Section; in 1985 he was appointed State Geologist and Chief of the Survey.
As State Geologist, Dr. Schmidt is appointed by the Florida Legislature to the Florida Board of Professional Geologists and chairs the Big Cypress Swamp Advisory Committee; he also serves on the Outer Continental Shelf Advisory Committee to the Florida Governor, and is on the faculty of the FSU Geology Department. Dr. Schmidt has served on numerous advisory boards, steering committees, and commissions, to provide the perspective of solid-earth science for environmental planning needs. He is a past President of the Southeastern Geological Society, the Association of American State Geologists, and past Chairman of the Geologic Section of the Florida Academy of Sciences. He has also served on several national committees, working groups and task forces representing Florida or the Association of American State Geologists. Dr. Schmidt is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, a Certified Professional Geologist within the American Institute of Professional Geologists, a founding member of the Florida Association of Professional Geologists, a member of the Society for Sedimentary Geology and the Ground Water Protection Council. He is a licensed professional geologist in four states.
Dr. Schmidt has published over 60 reports or maps, and has presented dozens of professional talks to scientific groups, environmental organizations, schools and universities, and lay groups.
View Dr. Schmidt's comments
on working in state geological surveys.
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