A team of University of Nebraska-Lincoln geosciences graduate students placed second in the international finals of an annual contest sponsored by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

For their success at the Imperial Barrel Award Program, the UNL team was presented with a trophy and $10,000.

Team members were Brian Blackstone of Casper, Wyo., Charles Kittinger Clark of Pasadena, Calif., Jessica Pritchard of Spring, Texas, and Matthew Corbett of Boston. Their faculty adviser is geosciences professor Chris Fielding.

The competition, in which teams of graduate students are asked to analyze geoscientific datasets, drew teams from 89 universities around the world.

The UNL team won its regional competition in April, defeating last year's winning team from the University of Oklahoma. But UNL was narrowly defeated in the finals in Denver by a team from Lomonosov Moscow State University in Russia.

"The team's performance at an international competition of this caliber is remarkable," said David Manderscheid, dean of UNL's College of Arts and Sciences. "It is a testament to the determination and intelligence of our students, and also highlights the excellence of faculty in our department of geosciences and the quality of graduate students they attract."