Hill to become SEG President-elect

7 August—Steve Hill, an adjunct associate professor of geophysics at Colorado School of Mines, will serve as President-elect of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists during the 2008-09 term of the Society’s Executive Committee.

Hill and the other newly elected officers will assume their duties on 13 November 2008 after the conclusion of SEG’s 78^th Annual International Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. This group will be led by Larry Lines of the University of Calgary, the current President-elect, who will assume the presidency at that time. They will serve through SEG’s 79^th Annual Meeting, 25-30 October 2009 in Houston.

Joining Lines and Hill on the new Executive Committee will be Bob Hardage of The University of Texas at Austin, First Vice President; Mary M. Poulton of the University of Arizona, Second Vice President; Paulo Johann of Petrobras, Vice President; Ray Vogler of WesternGeco, Secretary-Treasurer; and Kees Wapenaar of the Delft University of Technology who will be completing a two-year term as Editor.

Hill, who earned a doctorate in physics and astrophysics at the University of Colorado, was a member of various geophysics organizations at Conoco from 1978 until retiring in 2002. His assignments included processing and interpreting seismic data, manager of Conoco Seismic Processing, and technology consultant to Conoco’s upper management.

Hill received Special Commendation from SEG in 2000 for his long-time volunteer service to the Society.

SEG, founded in 1930, now has more than 30 000 members who reside in 130 countries. SEG is the leading international organization of applied geophysics and its annual meeting has long been unrivaled as the world’s premiere showplace for state-of-the-art geophysics instrumentation and technology.

 

Position statements

Steve Hill - President-elect

SEG fulfills its mission of promoting subsurface geophysics under the dual constraints of funding and members’ time. In fulfilling its mission, our Society becomes the center for our profession through its electronic and paper publications, meetings, forums, lectures, and scholarships.

Our active members give it strength in a myriad of dimensions through unselfish contributions of time, energy, and thoughts. A key to our continued progress is capitalizing on the potential contributions of all members in a geography-blind fashion by aligning their passion with our collective needs. A second key is the continued flattening of our geophysical world, with worldwide participation contributing to SEG’s continued success. I applaud the previous officers’ efforts in increasing the breadth of the organization through the appropriate application of geophysics for the betterment of humanity by encouraging a broad, international footprint, and in their work in augmenting SEG’s traditional funding sources.

If you are not already actively contributing to SEG, I encourage you to start. You and SEG will benefit in all dimensions. We receive from SEG that which we collectively contribute.

I will be delighted to serve you as a member of your Executive Committee.

 

Bob Hardage - First Vice President

I have viewed the geophysical industry from three employment perspectives in my career: major oil company, major service contractor, and major university.

These three diverse working environments have broadened my perspective of the issues that are important to SEG and to our profession. I believe in and will support:

• Steady, but controlled, expansion of SEG membership and services across international venues 
• Focusing on improved demographics within the SEG membership, with attention given to attracting students to geoscience and to reducing the costs of retiree participation in SEG activities
• Exploring options by which SEG can benefit society by promoting and supporting education and technology efforts that lead to alternate sources of energy (particularly unconventional gas) and to reduction of adverse environmental conditions (with particular attention given to CO² sequestration)

Mary M. Poulton - Second Vice President

We are experiencing a nearly unprecedented demand for energy and mineral resources as a large middle class emerges in many countries. Geophysics technologies can make major contributions to the health, safety, and productivity of our mineral and energy workforces.

As the secretary of the American Geological Institute (of which SEG is a member), I know the activities to increase the workforce in the energy and minerals sectors could be better communicated to the SEG membership. One of my priorities is to make sure AGI activities are more widely disseminated in SEG and vice versa. I would like to see SEG create an education task force that could develop a virtual geophysics university with the best content available for distance delivery to undergraduate and graduate programs. Another priority is to help plan a special session and publication of the contributions of geophysics to safe and efficient mineral production. The United Nations has declared 2007-2009 as the International Year of Planet Earth, and we have the opportunity to make the contributions of geophysics to a safer and more prosperous planet known to the public. My fourth goal would be to publicize the activities of the international year and find ways for SEG to promote its contributions to society.

 

 

Paulo Johann - Vice President

Since the early days of my geophysical career, which started in 1981 at Petrobras in Brazil, I have recognized the global importance of SEG in promoting the science of geophysics and the education of the professional geophysicist.

Furthermore, SEG provides a unique and stimulating environment which encourages sharing geophysical knowledge between members. In promoting meetings and forum series, organizing publications and training programs—and making all of this available to more than 30 000 members in 129 countries—SEG faces a constant and major challenge: namely, to maintain high levels of excellence and innovation. SEG’s technical publications are undoubtedly the most important source of applied geophysics knowledge in the petroleum industry. By recognizing the cultural diversity of its worldwide membership base, and by promoting a highly ethical environment, SEG plays an essential role for our global community. I am, thus, highly honored to be nominated for this position and would like to collaborate to promote geophysics and to recognize contributions toward the progress of the geophysical science and its related technologies. I plan to help foster a sense of community amongst geophysicists by providing opportunities for local and regional meetings and by stimulating professional interest and exchange of ideas. I also expect to generate opportunities for students to constantly discuss scientific and career issues. My best efforts will then be dedicated to help SEG grow bigger and better and to become even more international. This way I hope to be honoring the confidence and trust bestowed on me by those responsible for this nomination.

Ray Vogler - Secretary-Treasurer

SEG’s principal objective is to promote the science of geophysics and the education of applied geophysicists.

To meet this objective, the Society has to constantly adapt to effectively serve the membership as it has done so admirably over the past several years in many areas. I suggest placing emphasis on the following four areas:

SEG Online is an important tool for members to obtain new geophysical insights, and it can be easily accessed almost anywhere in the world. The expansion of this Web site to include more technical content should not only make SEG membership an indispensable requirement for today’s geophysicist but also provide information on higher-quality geophysical practices worldwide.

Continued global expansion of the membership needs to remain a priority. Programs such as the tiered global membership levels have had a significant positive impact.

SEG is also poised to engage the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Society of Petroleum Engineers in meaningful joint efforts. We are constantly expanding the depth of knowledge in our particular fields, but we need to investigate how to expand our breadth of understanding to include associated sciences.

Long-term financial planning is essential for building a solid foundation that enables the Society to prosper despite economic fluctuations and to continue its fine tradition of funding scholarships for geophysics students around the world. Fiscal responsibility and accountability to the membership are important for maintaining a healthy Society.