Samuel W. Gowan has a BA from Colby College in Maine, a MS from Texas A&M University and a PhD from Texas A&M, all with a focus in geology and engineering geology.

He is currently the president of Alpha Geoscience, which is a geologic and hydrogeologic consulting company in New York State; and he is the president of Salt Water Solutions LLC, which is a corporation in New York State specializing in the treatment of wastewater from salt mining operations and from hydrofracturing by the oil and gas industry. He is also a past president of the American Institute of Professional Geologists, the New York State Council of Professional Geologists and the Hudson Mohawk Professional Geologists Association, for which he was one of the co-founders.

Sam has been working as an applied consulting geologist since 1976. Sam's expertise has been utilized internationally for the forensic analysis of environmental damages, evaluation of mineral deposits (primarily in the areas of aggregates, industrial minerals and coal); environmental impact assessments for mining and other industrial and residential developments (primarily hydrogeologic and hydrologic); water resource protection assessments and plans; ground water investigations and mitigation of mine leaks and related damages (such as sinkhole development and water resource damages) from salt, aggregate, and mineral extraction; assessment of natural resource damages from energy exploration and development; assessment of mineral deposits for tax and eminent domain evaluations; and due diligence and integrity evaluations for subsurface energy storage.

He and his colleagues at Alpha Geoscience assisted in the development of standards for unconventional shale gas development in New York. He also has been involved in the development of professional standards for geologists in New York and is licensed in several states in the US.

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