Houston 2009 Annual Meeting

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Faculty advisors come together at the 79th Annual Meeting

Roxanne Cook, Web Content Lead, SEG

Representatives from Serbia, Nigeria, United States, Brazil, Egypt, Ukraine, Taiwan, New Zealand, China, Russia and the United Kingdom assembled at the First Annual Faculty Advisor Workshop during the SEG Annual Meeting to share Best Practices accomplished at their student chapters.   

Candice Chinsethagid, SEG University & Student Programs Manager, spoke to the group about SEG’s goal to continue expanding globally, as the student membership has grown to 8500 plus with approximately 223 chapters. SEG hopes to see these students further their studies in the geosciences field and progress from Student Members to lifelong Associate or Active Members.

“These advisors and students receive some great benefits. The biggest of these benefits is probably the ability to participate in SEAM (SEG Advanced Modeling Corporation),” stated Chinsethagid.

Student Membership benefits are:  

• monthly issues of The Leading Edge for Student Chapter libraries
• bimonthly issues of Geophysics for Student Chapter libraries
• Fred and Kathy Hilterman/SEG Foundation Student Chapter Book Program, sponsored by Geokinetics, Inc.
• annual Distinguished Instructor Short Course (DISC) on DVD
• SEG Annual Meeting Expanded Abstracts on CD-ROM
• SEG/Chevron Student Leadership Symposium (SLS)
• Projects of Merit
• PC’s for Students
• SEG Distinguished and Honorary Lecturer visits

Since 1956, SEG has awarded over five million dollars in scholarships to over 4122 students.  

During the Faculty Advisors Workshop, Larry Lines, SEG President, and Chinsethagid,  received awards from Professor Ali Abdel Aait, Assuit University, Egypt. Each was commended on SEG’s continued efforts to find more efficient energy sources, as well as SEG’s continued support with students internationally.

The workshop ended with breakaway sessions where the groups discussed their needs and desires as the Faculty Advisor program continues to grow and recruit new students and start new chapters globally. Some of the requests were:


• textbook translations
• online books
• financial support for such things as projectors, laptops, libraries, and geophysics equipment
• fees and faculty grants to attend meetings
• Professional Development

Being in its freshman stage, the Faculty Advisor Workshop proved successful and leaves both Chinsethagid and SEG will a lot of promise and hope for the future in regards to faculty advisors and students.