#9: Mentoring geoscience leaders

Getting involved in your professional association is the key to unlocking its power. And volunteering is a great way to get started. At SEG, committees serve this vital role of connecting members to the society, as well as to each other. In this conversation with Andrew Geary, Dr. Sergio Chávez-Pérez, Chair of the Research Committee, discusses what the committee does, how to get involved, and how it has impacted Sergio's career. Sergio also discusses why engaging geophysicists outside Houston, Texas is essential for the future of applied geophysics. Visit https://seg.org/podcast/Post/9063 for Sergio's full bio and the link to read May's The Leading Edge highlighting the Committee. BIOGRAPHY Sergio Chávez-Pérez received a B.S. degree in geophysical engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM, Mexico City, MEXICO) in 1984 and an M.S. in exploration geophysics from the University of South Carolina (USC, Columbia, SC, USA) in 1987. He began his work as an exploration seismologist in Mexico City at the Mexican Petroleum Institute in 1987. Later, he was appointed a research associate of engineering seismology at the Center for Seismic Research (1987-1992) and an adjunct professor of exploration seismology at UNAM (1987-1992). Sergio went back to the USA in 1992 to pursue his Ph.D. in exploration seismology at the Seismological Lab of the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR, Reno, NV, USA). He obtained his Ph.D. in December 1997 and since January 1998 is a Research Geophysicist at the Mexican Petroleum Institute (IMP), following technology for IMP and PEMEX. He has also been an adjunct professor of exploration seismology at UNAM (1999-2014; 2016- ) and adjunct professor at the University of Utah, USA (2004-2014). His areas of professional interest are seismic imaging (migration, modeling, tomography, and inversion), data processing and wavefield transformation, interpretation of seismic data for structural, stratigraphic, and reservoir and site characterization targets, and seismic wave propagation. He became an SEG (Society of Exploration Geophysicists) member in 1981 during his undergraduate years in Mexico City, was a candidate for Vice-President in 2007, and currently serves as an associate editor for GEOPHYSICS (Case Histories, Interpretation Methods), reviewer for Interpretation, member of the Global Affairs, Latin America Advisory (past Chair), Research (Chair), and Translations committees (past Chair), and reviewer, and session and workshop organizer during SEG Annual Meetings. Sergio is also a member of AAPG, AGU, AMGE (serving as foreign relations liaison), EAGE (serving as a workshop organizer), GCSSEPM, GSA, and GSH. In addition, he is also a reviewer for the Journal of Applied Geophysics, Geofísica Internacional, and Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics (NPG). CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.

30 Juni 202014min

On June 5, 2020, Hendratta Ali released the "Call for a Robust Anti-Racism Plan for The Geosciences" petition. In the petition, Dr. Ali and her collaborators outline 15 action steps for societies, organizations, companies, and individuals to take to strive toward anti-racism and equity. In this conversation with Andrew Geary, Dr. Ali discusses how the petition originated, what it means for a professional society to be anti-racist and equitable for all members, her personal experiences of racism in the geosciences, and concrete steps organizations can take to better support Black, Indigenous, Latinx People and other minoritized groups in the geosciences. As of June 19, over 19,000 have signed the petition. Read the petition at https://www.change.org/p/geoscientists-call-for-a-robust-anti-racism-plan-for-the-geosciences. For all the resources Dr. Ali mentions in this conversation, visit https://seg.org/podcast. BIOGRAPHY Hendratta Ali is an Associate Professor in the Geosciences Department at Fort Hays State University (FHSU) and is the coordinator of the Petroleum Geology program and student club advisor/mentor. Dr. Ali established and developed a petroleum geology program in the Department of Geosciences at FHSU. She supervises the FHSU geology apprenticeship program for students and mentors students to gain industry experience before they graduate. In addition to teaching and supervising apprenticeships, Dr. Ali has a vibrant research group that typically includes several undergraduate students, advises the student chapters of the SEG (Fort Hays State University Geophysical Society) and AAPG petroleum club. She is also the faculty sponsor of the Fort Hays State University IBA team. Dr. Ali’s research interests are in magnetic susceptibility and chemo-stratigraphy applied to petroleum systems and the use of stable isotope applied to surface and groundwater systems. She is very active in SEG, AAPG, and other professional organizations. She has served in key leadership roles including serving as president of the Kansas Geophysical Society, chair of the SEG Youth Education committee, and member of several committees. She offers petroleum-related short-courses and workshops to working professionals and non-geosciences professionals. Dr. Ali was honored with the SEG Outstanding Educator Award in 2018 and the AAPG Inspirational Geoscience Educator Award in 2017. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.

23 Juni 202035min

Seismic Soundoff is excited to welcome back Kurt Marfurt. Kurt joined the podcast for our second-ever episode that still remains one of the most popular episodes. For this conversation, Kurt highlights the present state of education and training in geophysics, including the value and benefits of virtual education. He shares his thoughts on the most important area of focus for geophysicists right now, why there's a need to increase your quantitative and programming skills and offers his one piece of advice to succeed in geophysics. As with our first conversation, this one is not to be missed. Join host Andrew Geary and Kurt Marfurt on "The present and future of training and education." Visit https://seg.org/podcast/Post/9056 for the complete show notes and links to Kurt's research articles, books, and courses. BIOGRAPHY Kurt J. Marfurt joined The University of Oklahoma in 2007 where he serves as the Frank and Henrietta Schultz Professor of Geophysics within the ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics. Marfurt’s primary research interest is in the development and calibration of new seismic attributes to aid in seismic processing, seismic interpretation, and reservoir characterization. Recent work has focused on applying coherence, spectral decomposition, structure-oriented filtering, and volumetric curvature to mapping fractures and karst with a particular focus on resource plays. Marfurt earned a Ph.D. in applied geophysics at Columbia University’s Henry Krumb School of Mines in New York in 1978 where he also taught as an Assistant Professor for four years. He worked 18 years in a wide range of research projects at Amoco’s Tulsa Research Center after which he joined the University of Houston for 8 years as a Professor of Geophysics and the Director of the Allied Geophysics Lab. He has received the SEG best paper (for coherence), SEG best presentation (for seismic modeling), as a coauthor with Satinder Chopra best SEG poster (one on curvature, one on principal component analysis) and best AAPG technical presentation, and as a coauthor with Roderick Perez Altimar, AAPG/SEG Interpretation best paper (on brittleness) awards. Marfurt also served as the SEG/EAGE Distinguished Short Course Instructor for 2006 and 2018 (on seismic attributes). In addition to teaching and research duties at OU, Marfurt leads short courses on attributes for SEG and AAPG and served as first Editor-in-Chief of the AAPG/SEG journal Interpretation. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.

4 Juni 202033min

How can couples best navigate dual careers? How do you balance work-life throughout a career? How can dual-career couples benefit companies? Eve Sprunt answers these questions and shows how management and individuals alike can truly activate the power of dual-career couples. This is a wide-ranging conversation that touches on career development, workplace bullying, how professional societies can propel your career in downturns, and much more. This conversation with host Andrew Geary is based on Eve's recent book, A Guide for Dual-Career Couples. Visit https://seg.org/podcast for the complete show notes and to buy her book. BIOGRAPHY Eve Sprunt is the author of two books that deal with the issues impacting those in dual-career couples. Her first book, A Guide for Dual-Career Couples, is based on extensive research she has done on the topic. She felt compelled to write her second book, Dearest Audrey, An Likely Love Story after she found her aunt’s letters that were written in the mid-1950s. Eve is working on a new book that explores the challenges her mother, Ruth Chew, faced trying to combine her career as an artist and later as a children’s book author and illustrator with raising five children. Eve earned her bachelor of science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At the age of 21, while working on her master’s degree at MIT, she eloped before meeting any of her husband’s family. She went on to become the first woman to receive a doctoral degree from Stanford University in Geophysics in 1977. Her first child, Alexander, was born 9 months after she defended her Ph.D. thesis. Thirteen days later, Eve returned to work as a research associate at Stanford bringing Alexander into her lab. Her daughter was born while she worked for Mobil before there was any maternity leave. She spent 35 years in the petroleum industry (21 years for Mobil and almost 14 years for Chevron). She was the 2006 President of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and received that society’s highest award, “Honorary Membership.” In 2013, she received the highest award given by the Society of Women Engineers, the SWE Achievement Award. She acted as vice president of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and served as Past Chair of the SEG Women's Network Committee. She founded the Society of Core Analysts in 1985 and was the 2018 President of the American Geosciences Institute. She authored 23 patents, 28 scholarly papers, and over 150 other articles. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.

21 Maj 202046min

In this episode, host Andrew Geary speaks with Sarah Morton Rupert, lead author on "Time-lapse monitoring of stress-field variations within the Lower Permian shales in Kansas" in May's The Leading Edge. This conversation is a great primer on the value of near-surface geophysics to scientists and the public. Whether building a house, building a bridge, or remediating an old salt mine, Sarah provides a lot of actionable information in this episode. And if you are wondering the best way to get engaged in the Society, Sarah has you covered there as well. Visit https://seg.org/podcast/Post/9027 for the complete show notes and links to this month's special section on near-surface imaging and modeling. BIOGRAPHY Sarah Morton Rupert currently is a Graduate Research Assistant at the Kansas Geological Survey. Her current work focuses on surface wave seismic methods to investigate how surface waves behave and interact with different geologic and engineering structures. The goal of her research is to better observe geologic materials that may induce engineering failures before they occur and help bridge the gap between the engineering and geophysical communities. She serves as Vice-Chair, Student Program Lead, and Communications Lead for the SEG Near-Surface Geophysics Technical Section. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.

7 Maj 202027min

In this episode, host Andrew Geary speaks with biogeophysics pioneer Estella Atekwana. Their conversation highlights Estella's upcoming virtual course called "Biogeophysics: Exploring Earth’s subsurface biosphere using geophysical approaches." Estella explains how geophysical tools helped develop biogeophysics, why microorganisms play such a key role on the Earth, how her research applies to the search for life on other planets and why flexibility is the key to a successful career. Visit https://seg.org/podcast for the complete show notes and to register for Dr. Atekwana's virtual course. BIOGRAPHY Estella A. Atekwana received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Howard University, Washington DC, and a Ph.D. from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is currently the Dean of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment at the University of Delaware. Her research uses geophysical methodologies to investigate geologic processes spanning the near to deep subsurface and from the micron to the lithospheric scale. She is internationally recognized for her pioneering and interdisciplinary work on biogeophysics which has won numerous best paper awards at international conferences. Her biogeophysics research focuses on investigating the interaction between microorganisms and subsurface geologic media and the application of this knowledge to bioremediation optimization, oil exploration, and as a proxy for biogeochemical processes. Her tectonophysics studies have included integrated geophysical imaging of lithospheric and upper mantle structures to understand the geodynamic processes of continental rift initiation and how preexisting Precambrian structures modulate strain localization leading to faulting and generation of earthquakes. Atekwana has conducted international field-based research in several countries including Botswana, Cameroon, Egypt, Malawi, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, and Zambia with her students. Atekwana has been the lead principal investigator of many research projects funded by federal agencies and private companies. She has received several awards including the 2019 Association for Women Geoscientists Outstanding Educator and the 2016 Society of Exploration Geophysicists Outstanding Educator award. She was inducted an Honorary Member of Phi Beta Delta, the Honor Society for International Scholars, and the International Golden Key Honor Society. She has been convener of several workshops and special sessions and an invited speaker at international conferences and research institutions. Atekwana is a member of several professional organizations including the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, American Geophysical Union, Geological Society of America, Geochemical Society, European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers, and National Association of Black Geoscientists. She has held leadership positions on several of these organizations. Atekwana is passionate about her students and early-career faculty and is a mentor for women and minorities in the sciences. She has been an advisor of more than 40 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.

23 Apr 202024min

In this episode, host Andrew Geary showcases Johan Robertsson's upcoming virtual course on generalized sampling and gradiometry. Johan spotlights the importance of mathematician Harry Nyquist to geophysics, explains the increased interest in rotational seismology, what geophysicists can learn from seismic data acquisition on Mars, and shares important advice for anyone seeking to succeed in geophysics. Visit https://seg.org/podcast/Post/9002 for the complete show notes and to register for Dr. Robertsson's virtual course. BIOGRAPHY Johan Robertsson received an M.Sc. from Uppsala University, Sweden, in 1991 and a Ph.D. from Rice University, Houston, Texas, in 1994. He spent 1995 and 1996 as a postdoc at ETH in Zürich, Switzerland. He then joined Schlumberger in 1996, where he spent 15 years in various R&D and management positions in Cambridge (UK), London, and Oslo. In his last assignment with Schlumberger, he was the research director of geophysics and scientific advisor at Schlumberger Cambridge Research. Since 2012 he is a professor at ETH where he holds the Chair of Applied Geophysics and leads the Exploration and Environmental Geophysics (EEG) group. In 2015, he received the Eni “New frontiers in hydrocarbons upstream award” together with former colleagues from Schlumberger. In 2016, he was awarded an ERC advanced grant from the European Union and also founded Seismic Apparition GmbH. In 2018, he received EAGE’s Conrad Schlumberger Award. Prof. Robertsson’s research interests include seismic acquisition, simultaneous source separation, wave-equation-based processing, physics of wave propagation, and full-waveform modeling. He has held various offices with SEG, EAGE, and RAS. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.

16 Apr 202018min

In this episode, host Andrew Geary highlights Sid Misra's course on Machine Learning Techniques for Engineering and Characterization. Sid provides a great background on machine learning and the value it brings to geophysics, why the coding language Python is essential (and easy-to-learn), one action you can take today to succeed in the field, and the advantages of virtual courses over in-person events. If you want to understand machine learning better and its impact on geophysics - listen to this episode! Visit https://seg.org/podcast/Post/8995 for the complete show notes. Note: Sid's tour is currently canceled due to COVID-19 coronavirus concerns. Sid and SEG are actively working on a virtual course to take its place. Visit https://seg.org/Education and scroll to the bottom of the page where you can sign up for the latest SEG educational opportunities by email to know when the course is ready! BIOGRAPHY Professor Siddharth Misra is an Associate Professor in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University. Misra holds a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to that, from 2007 to 2010, he worked as a Wireline Field Engineer in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the USA with Halliburton. He received his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India, in 2007. Recently, he was awarded the prestigious Department of Energy Early Career Award, American Chemical Society New Investigator Award, and SPE Mid-Continent Formation Evaluation Award. His research interest includes subsurface characterization, machine learning, sensing and sensors, and inverse problems. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.

7 Apr 202031min