Summer 2022 Connection Magazine

2022 Richard Holt Science Award
Richard Aram ’72
The Richard Holt Science
Award, inaugurated in 2017
in conjunction with the
completion of the Academy’s
Science & Technology
Center, is given to WA
alumni for their exemplary
accomplishments in the field
of science. The intent is to
recognize and honor the
scientists of the past in order
to encourage and inspire the
scientists of the future.
The 2022 recipient of this award is Richard Aram ’72, a
geologist who worked for over three decades for Phillips
Petroleum/ConocoPhillips. Rich’s career at Phillips involved
exploration and technology support/development. He
also coordinated geoscience recruiting for the U.S. offices.
Rich spent the last sixteen years at Phillips as the director
of geoscience training which involved training all the
new geologists and geophysicists hired worldwide by the
company. In addition, Rich served on the advisory councils
for two international training companies and on a committee
for the National Science Foundation.
Over the course of his years at Phillips, Rich has traveled
the globe. His work has taken him from Texas and North
Dakota to Norway and Greenland. His assignments have
involved exotic places like the Western Desert of Egypt, the
coasts of Brazil, and Bohai Bay, China.
Rich has also dedicated himself to science education.
From 1990-1993, he directed Phillips Petroleum’s Green
Country Science Teachers Workshops, a free training
program coordinated by Phillips with the help of local
“we can do science for jesus
just like any other vocation.”
richard aram ’72
Some members of the Class of 1972 attended Homecoming 2021
in support of their friends in the classes of 1970 and 1971.
Pictured here from left: Scott Filine ’72, Gary Knosp ’72,
RICH Aram ’72 and wife Brenda, and Mike Morgan ’70
science teachers. Hundreds of elementary and secondary
science teachers and thousands of students benefited from
the workshops which garnered national acclaim. Rich and
a friend also built and directed Phillips Norway Science
Teachers Workshop from 1996 to 1998.
Over the last 19 years, Rich has presented at 11 International
Christian Educators Conferences hosted by the Association
of Christian Schools International. These conferences have
been held in Hungary, Kenya, Thailand, Ecuador, Korea,
Germany, and the Czech Republic. His workshops have
intriguing titles: Talking Rocks, Fossils as Teachers, Waltzing
Continents, Learning Better Science with Dinosaurs, and
Seeking a Balanced Approach to Teaching Origins in the
Science Classroom. He is working on a new workshop that
combines geology and the Bible called The Land: The Fifth
Gospel. This course will feature the role the landscape of
Israel played in its culture and the events of the Bible.
In addition to his many accomplishments, Rich is the
author of numerous publications on geology and science
education. However, he is quick to point out that while he
always hoped his work in the field of science would make the
world a better place, he took his role as a Christian husband,
father, and now grandfather as a top priority. To that end, he
devoted himself to spending time with his family—reading
with his kids, memorizing Scripture, praying with them,
driving them to their sports events, coaching them, fishing
with them, and so much more. Now, he is continuing the
old traditions and making new ones with extended family
and ten grand-dears.
Rich’s exhortation to Wheaton Academy students is as
follows: “I want this award to focus students on science as
a possible career and ministry. Remember the stated goal of
this award is ‘to encourage and inspire the scientists of the
future.’ It’s not about what I have done; it’s about you and
what you can do. Our world has many needs. Good science
and good ethics can help [meet these].”
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