90: SEG Celebrates its 90th Birthday

In this episode, host Andrew Geary speaks with SEG President Rick Miller to celebrate SEG's 90th birthday. Rick reflects on the milestones of the organization, the role of professional societies in 2020, how the digital transformation has impacted the field, and his future vision for applied geophysics. For long-time members and those just getting started in the science, this episode will trace how far the field has come, its impact on society, and its future opportunities. Visit https://seg.org/podcast for the complete show notes. BIOGRAPHY Rick Miller received a BA in physics from Benedictine College, an MS in physics (emphasis in geophysics) from the University of Kansas (KU), and a Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Leoben, Austria. Since 1983, he has been at the Kansas Geological Survey, a research and service division of KU, where he is a senior scientist and courtesy associate professor of geology. His scientific interests focus on applying shallow-seismic methods to a wide assortment of problems from energy to engineering to the environment. SEG is Miller's professional home, and the Society has recognized his contributions advancing the science and serving the profession with the inaugural SEG Harold Mooney Award (1995), the SEG Distinguished Achievement Award (2002; given to Miller's research group), and the Life Membership Award (2014). His service to SEG includes terms as President (2019-2020), second vice president (2011–2012), first vice president (2012–2013), treasurer and chairman for the SEG Global Inc. Board of Directors (2014–2018), and representative to the SEG Council nine times since 1989. An SEG member since 1984, Miller has served on several boards, most notably The Leading Edge Editorial Board (chair, 2009), a half-dozen committees, and task force appointments (Inter-Society, Near Surface, IDC, and China). He served SEG twice as a technical program co-chair for the International Conference on Engineering Geophysics (2015, 2017) in the United Arab Emirates, four times as a workshop convener, and three times as a continuing education instructor. In 2012, he was selected to be the inaugural Near-Surface Honorary Lecturer. Miller was a guest editor on 17 TLE special sections and an author on 33 TLE articles. He has edited or co-edited two SEG books and has been an author on more than 135 Annual Meeting expanded abstracts, 113 refereed articles (24 in GEOPHYSICS, two in Interpretation), and eight SEG book chapters. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary at 51 features, LLC. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Ted Bakamjian, Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.