François-Marie Pellerin graduated from Ecole de Géologie de Nancy (France) and has a Doctorate in Engineering Geology from Ecole des Mines de Paris. He spent a major part of his professional career as a reservoir geologist-petrophysicist at Elf Aquitaine Co, then Total. Previously, he taught and conducted research in engineering geology at the Ecole des Mines and Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées (Paris - France).