The Houston Geological Society organized the Applied Geoscience Conference held on Nov. 8-9 in Spring, Texas. Geoscience experts from several major oil and gas companies and reputed academic institutes were invited to give talks on latest industry practices and academic research. Professor Ghassemi, from University of Oklahoma, gave an interesting talk on “Complex Fracture Network Creation in Stimulation of Unconventional Reservoirs.” As part of the conference, a poster competition was organized in which 12 posters from six schools (Georgia Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, The University of Oklahoma, The University of Texas, University of Calgary and University of Houston) competed against each other. The students from the University of Oklahoma took home the prize for best poster as well as the first runner up award. Ishank Gupta, working with Dr. Chandra Rai and Carl Sondergeld, was awarded first place for the poster he presented on the water weakening phenomenon on shales. Zhi Ye, working with Dr. Ahmad Ghassemi, presented a poster on shear stimulation and permeability evolution in shale fractures, and won the first runner-up award.