Houston team wins
second SEG Challenge Bowl
Image gallery
Sarah Tyler
24 September 2007—Congratulations to the University of Houston team, who earned first place in the 2007 SEG Challenge Bowl. They took home a plaque and the $1000 cash prize ($500 per person) prize. Runners up from the University of Oklahoma received a plaque and a $600 prize ($300 per person). All contestants received a Challenge Bowl shirt.
Regional winners competed on Monday in the Second Annual SEG Challenge Bowl. The winners participated in a quiz show format featuring three rounds of questioning. The competition really took hold and tested students’ breadth and depth of knowledge about geosciences. The competition was extraordinary as students outdid themselves to win the challenge.
Onlookers and contestants were met with a lively and inviting atmosphere, as host Peter Duncan started the event. Duncan has long been an advocate of the Challenge Bowl since its inception last year.
“When I first saw the Challenge Bowl in India I knew SEG had to make it a global event,” Duncan said. “It hits so many of our hot buttons: It promotes student involvement and provides a way for them to earn a trip to SEG’s Annual Meeting, it gives our regional affiliates a way to attract student members and promotes interaction with the global organization, and it’s a lot of fun. Even nonstudents tell me they enjoy watching the contests although they express great relief that they don't have to come up with the answers.”
If you were unable to attend the Challenge Bowl this year, you missed a very exciting event. Following are a few of the questions that were posed to the contestants. There were two questions that were hotly debated in Round 1.
Question 1: The 8th mineral in Moh’s scale of hardness is:
Apatite
Orthoclase
Tungsten
Corundum
Answer: None of the above. (This question was the subject of some controversy as students were not given “none of the above” as a possible answer.) The audience helped decide that no points should be deducted.
Question 2: An important source of diamonds is:
blue ground
red ground
green ground
black ground
Answer: Even though the ground color is green, the answer is actually termed as blue ground.
Between rounds, recruiters from companies answered questions about what their company has to offer new graduates looking for a meaningful career in the Earth sciences.
After the first Challenge Bowl in 2006, interest has been growing in this exciting event. Event organizers had asked for and received questions from the business office staff and SEG members around the world. The year’s activities included students competing in four difficult regional competitions, from which the finalists were selected and given all-expenses-paid trips to San Antonio for this year’s contest.
Regional competitions were held at the University of Oklahoma (in conjunction with the AAPG/SEG Student Expo), in Houston (in conjunction with Sercel’s Third Land Forum), in Calgary (in conjunction with the 2007 CSPG/CSEG convention), and in the Middle East (sponsored by Dhahran Geophysical Society).
Students represented Memorial University (Canada), King Fahd University of Petroleum & Mining (Saudi Arabia), University of Houston (United States), Colorado School of Mines (United States), University of Oklahoma (United States), India, Russia, and China.
This year’s competition was sponsored by:
• BP
• Chevron
• ExxonMobil
• Geotrace
• PGS
• MicroSeismic
Related Link: SEG Annual Meeting 2007 News and Photos Index
SEG Annual Meeting Home Page
