Amber Conner is a research geologist and geochemist with over a decade of working experience between carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), oil and gas (O&G), and critical mineral (CM) projects. She has extensive field work experience in the oil and gas region and work closely with field operators and state geological surveys to perform well testing, monitoring, field safety, and permitting. She has functioned as the Principal Investigator and Lead Geologist on several commercial CCUS projects nationwide which focused on sequestration site characterization and monitoring, mitigation and verification technologies. She has led several CCUS projects which focus on geocharacterization for both reservoir and caprock identification as well as CO2 plume monitoring, for saline storage and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the Michigan and Appalachian Basins, several Midwest state regions, Gulf Coast, and some international locations.

Amber Conner’s CM work focuses on the analysis and identification of CM-enriched rocks and formation fluids to uncover geochemical and geological trends for the development of predictive models, which will benefit Michigan and state industry leaders. Her previous work experience is with brine and rock samples from different rock formation zones and depths to determine spatial diversity and concentration of CMs in formation fluids and rocks. Through advanced field characterization and geologic system studies, the events which produced CM and rare earth elements (REE) concentrations can be determined within a study region. This work captures the recent attention on CMs and REEs which are paramount for finding alternative domestic extraction resources, especially in the Michigan and Appalachian Basins.

She is passionate about political and community outreach opportunities and has over a decade of experience with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activities. She has developed several learning activities focused on CCUS and geology for Northern and Central Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia STEM programs. She has worked closely with groups to create experiments to showcase CCUS activities for STEM programs with over 100 attendees.