John C. Bancroft

John Bancroft graduated from the University of Calgary with a B.Sc. in 1970 and an M.Sc. in 1972, both in Electrical Engineering.  He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Brigham Young University in 1976.  After completing his degrees, he worked with the National Technical Institute for the Deaf / Rochester Institute of Technology as a Research Scientist quantifying speech parameters and as team member developing a cochlea implant.  In 1980 he changed his career to geophysics and moved back to Calgary to work at Geo-X Systems Ltd. as director of research, and then with Veritas Seismic from 1988 till 1990 as director of research.  In 1990, he started his consulting business, and in 1994 joined the CREWES project and Department of Geology and Geophysics (now the Department of Geoscience) at the University of Calgary.

During these years he developed extensive software for seismic processing including a complete 3-D processing system, along with surface consistent analysis for scaling, deconvolution, and statics.  He also developed a suite of migrations for 2-D and 3-D, pre- and poststack, with FK, Kirchhoff and downward continuation algorithms. His new algorithm for prestack time and depth migration is recognized for its accuracy and speed and incorporate advanced features such as anisotropy.  Along with his interest in migration, he has written an extensive set of course notes on the practical aspects of migration, which are published by the SEG, and has taught courses in many international locations. 

Current research interests include pursuing the development of prestack migration and incorporating it into a seismic package that resolves statics and velocities independent of the CMP approach.  Additional extensions to the method include P-SV converted wave processing, anisotropy, and migration from rugged surfaces.

Dr. Bancroft has served on numerous technical committees for the CSEG and SEG, and won the Best Paper award at the 1995 CSEG national convention, honorable mention in he 1994 International SEG Convention, a Best Paper at 1996 CGU, a best paper award at the 2001 ASEG national convention, and a runner-up best paper award in the 2003 CSEG national convention.

In 2005, he was elected an “Honorary Member” of the CSEG.

He is a member of SEG, CSEG, ASEG, EAEG, IEEE, CGU, and APEGGA.