Rick Miller received a BA in physics from Benedictine College, an MS in physics (emphasis geophysics) from University of Kansas (KU), and a PhD in geophysics from University of Leoben, Austria. Since 1983, he has been at the Kansas Geological Survey, a research and service division of KU, where he is senior scientist and courtesy associate professor of geology. His scientific interests focus on applying shallow-seismic methods to a wide assortment of problems from energy to engineering to the environment.

SEG is Miller’s professional home, and the Society has recognized his contributions advancing the science and serving the profession with the inaugural SEG Near Surface Harold Mooney Award (1995), SEG Distinguished Achievement Award (2002) to Miller’s research group, and Life Membership Award (2014). His service to SEG includes terms as second vice president (2011–2012), first vice president (2012–2013), treasurer and chairman for the SEG Global Inc. Board of Directors (2014–18), and representative to the SEG Council nine times since 1989. An SEG member since 1984, Miller has served on several boards, most notably The Leading Edge (TLE) Editorial Board (chair, 2009), a half-dozen committees, and task force appointments (Inter-Society, Near Surface, IDC, and China). He served SEG twice as Technical Program cochair for the International Conference on Engineering Geophysics (2015, 2017) in the United Arab Emirates, four times a workshop convener, and three times continuing education instructor. In 2012, he was selected inaugural Near-Surface Honorary Lecturer.

 Miller was guest editor on 17 TLE special sections and an author on 33 TLE articles. He has edited or co-edited two SEG books and been author on more than 135 Annual Meeting expanded abstracts, 113 refereed articles (24 in Geophysics, two in Interpretation), and eight SEG book chapters.

Position Statement

For more than 85 years, SEG has been a leader and more importantly instrumental in globally advancing the science of exploration geophysics. With SEG’s 2003 global membership milestone (majority of members living outside the United States) has come a sharpened vision and challenge to connect the world of applied geophysics. Woven into SEG’s institutional fabric and essential to its mission is understanding and meeting member needs across the globe.

SEG’s future is bright as the home society for a diverse set of applied geophysics professionals, advancing traditional applications and pioneering emerging and exciting focus areas.

 

• Presidential goals must be obtainable and sustainable. My focus:
• Publications, number one member benefit — continue enhancing publication products
• Annual meeting is our Super Bowl/World Cup and is attended by more nonmembers than members — increase attendance and flip that ratio
• Partnerships with sister societies have benefited SEG — strengthen and grow relationships that make sense for SEG members
• SEG’s regional offices are unique resources — increase reach of offices consistent with mission, member needs, and economics

 

As a member-driven society, meeting the needs and expectations of the members is the principal measure of success. SEG’s president must be engaged with and counseled by the members

Manika Prasad graduated from University of Bombay, India, with a BSc (Honors) in geology. She then got an MSc (Diplom) in geology and geophysics and a PhD in geophysics from Kiel University, Germany. Prasad has worked at various university and government institutions. She was a research fellow at the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, a postdoctoral associate at the Mineral Physics Laboratory at University of Hawaii, a research associate at Stanford University, and, most recently, faculty at Colorado School of Mines. She has also consulted for major oil companies and on rock physics and petrophysics solutions in various parts of the world.

At Colorado School of Mines, Prasad directs the Center for Rock Abuse, which consists of about 20 people. She plays with experimental setups in the laboratory and is happiest when developing novel ways to analyze rocks and having her graduate and undergraduate students explain complicated phenomena, such as entropy of deadlines. She has published on a variety of topics, including rock physics, near-surface geophysics, medical and nondestructive imaging, signal processing, and petrophysics.

Prasad’s work in acoustical imaging required her to explain rocks to nongeoscientists by recasting rocks as complex organisms with blood (fluid) transport via arteries (pores, channels) that can suffer blockage (restriction, pore throats) and fractures. With this comes the realization that scientific and technological breakthroughs happen when we find a common scientific language.

Prasad serves as an associate editor for Geophysics and was technical editor for SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering – Formation Evaluation. She is a member of the SEG Women’s Network Committee and other SEG and Society of Petroleum Engineers committees. Prasad was the Fall 2012 SEG-AAPG Distinguished Lecturer and was recognized by SEG in 2015 as an Outstanding Educator and in 2017 with the Virgil Kauffman Gold Medal.  

Position Statement

Geophysics is a fascinating field where physicists, geologists, chemists and chemical engineers, software programmers, and all types of engineers find their home. A society that serves and caters to such a variety of disciplines must speak a common language that is understood by all members. At a time when many of us are thinking of reinventing our careers, SEG must provide that spark and passion to keep everyone engaged and to include every branch and every member of our field. Having been an SEG member since my student days, I am honored to give back to the society in any way I can. I would like to:

 

• Promote diversity in our nomination of deserving candidates for SEG Honors and Awards
• Involve more early-career professionals and students in SEG governance
• Work toward serving the interests of every branch and members from in all parts of the world
• Promote engagement at regional levels and in SEG regional and sister societies
• Establish a higher involvement with student societies so that students are inspired and vested to become full members after graduation
• Strengthen ties between exploration geophysicists from various parts of the world
• Promote more joint society programs on exploration, solid earth, space, and environmental geophysics topics

 

Dan Ebrom received his MS and PhD in geophysics from the University of Houston (UH), after having received his SB from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Upon receiving his PhD, Ebrom spent six years as a researcher with UH, including two years as interim director of the UH Allied Geophysical Labs. Following UH, he joined Texaco to work on Teal South, the world’s first 4C, 4D permanently emplaced oilfield seismic system. From Texaco, he moved to BP to oversee multicomponent acquisition and processing projects in Trinidad and Azerbaijan. While at BP, Ebrom extended technology that predicted pore pressure from P-wave velocities to quantitatively utilize S-wave velocities (AAPG Ziad Beydoun prize, 2002; co-awardees Heppard, Thomsen, Harrold, and Mueller) and V_P/V_S ratios (Helios prize for Innovation, 2005; co-awardees Albertin, Heppard, Hornby, and Viceer). Since transitioning to Statoil 10 years ago, his work has focused on the use of seismic-derived pore pressure to characterize hydrocarbon seals for exploration seal identification and risking.

Ebrom has served as Geophysical Society of Houston (GSH) president, GSH first vice president, and chair of the GSH Continuing Education committee. He is currently on the SEAM Board of Directors and serves as the SEAM Corporation treasurer. He has also served as SEG secretary-treasurer, chair of the SEG Finance Board, chair of the SEG Continuing Education Committee, chair of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, and editor of the SEG Reprint Series. He has organized the SEG sessions at the Offshore Technology Conference on multiple occasions. Recently, he was the technical chairman of the 2015 GSH Spring Symposium.

Position Statement

As treasurer, my main objective will be to get relevant financial information to the SEG officers and directors, which will enable them to make the best use of SEG funds.

Of course, the treasurer is an officer of the Society and so looks at the broader picture as well. Here are my priorities:

Putting more emphasis on exploration and geophysics than is currently the norm. Many of my exploration colleagues complain that SEG Annual Meeting technical programs are too computer-algorithm-centric with too little interpretive geophysics. While computational geophysics will remain a core competency of SEG, perhaps the Society should consider more joint programs with AAPG to better serve our interpretive members.

Encouraging the chair(s) of the Annual Meeting to find creative ways of including all of those abstracts that are useful to the membership, and not rejecting abstracts simply because of an insufficient number of similar abstracts.

Giving younger geophysicists more substantial roles in the Society. If we miss the opportunity to recruit and develop younger leaders now, we run the risk of having no leadership pool when the baby boomers start to disappear.

SEG is a society of “idea people.” We need to constantly tap into that resource.

Maria Angela Capello is an award-wining leader and expert in reservoir management, leadership strategies, multiculturalism, training, and diversity for the energy sector. Her strength resides in a leadership capacity to advance large organizations toward strategic objectives, and in her insightful knowledge of national oil companies and service companies from her experience in the Middle East, United States, and Latin America.

Capello is currently an executive advisor at Kuwait Oil Company, championing the standardization of reservoir management practices across the company and other strategic initiatives. She is lead advisor of the Professional Women Network of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and its nine subsidiaries.

Capello was the first woman to supervise geophysical field operations in the jungles of Venezuela and progressed to general manager of an oil asset in PDVSA. Later, she was subsurface and operations manager for Latin America and the Northern Arabian Gulf for Halliburton Landmark. Recently, she authored the book “Learned in the Trenches — Insights on Leadership and Resilience.” She believes that improving an individual, team, or corporation starts with clear strategic goals, communicated in simple and appealing ways.

Initially a physicist, Capello also received an MS in geophysics from Colorado School of Mines. She has been an SEG vice president, Honorary Lecturer, and has received the Special Commendation and Lifetime Membership awards from SEG. She has chaired several SEG committees, and currently is a member of the SEG Advanced Modeling (SEAM) Board of Directors, the chair of the Women’s Network Committee, and an SEG Council member.

Capello is a Society of Petroleum Engineers Distinguished Member and Distinguished Lecturer. She received in 2017 the SPE Distinguished Service Award, is an associate editor for the Journal of Petroleum Technology, and “SPE Women in Energy” advisor.

In 2018, she received the international GRIT Award, for being a “Difference Maker in Energy.”

Position Statement 

Geophysics is in transition from focusing on exploration for hydrocarbons to other applications. As a director at large, I would like to steer specific initiatives and raise the necessary flags to ensure SEG remains a valuable society for members of all ages, cultures, and genders with different levels of experience around the world, by taking a wider range of interests and preferences. To advance SEG into the new energy ecosystem, I am convinced we need to do more specifically for younger geophysicists, for women in geophysics, and for nontraditional and new applications of geophysics.

I will leverage my understanding of our Society, acquired from decades of volunteering, and my multinational experience to

 

• Ensure mechanisms are in place at all levels for encouraging the active participation of younger geophysicists. We need to hear their voices (and Snapchats!) to rejuvenate SEG!
• Boost the participation (and leadership!) of women from all regions in our technical and organizational committees, and in SEG leadership roles
• Expand attention to new applications of geophysics, including monitoring of production in the oil industry, civil engineering, hydrogeology, and environmental engineering
• Empower SEG actions toward promoting geophysics at earlier ages in education, joining STEM initiatives in selected regions around the world

 

David Lumley is Professor, and Green Chair in Geophysics, at the University of Texas at Dallas. He holds a PhD Geophysics from Stanford University, and an MSc and BSc (Hons) Geophysics from the University of British Columbia.

Lumley’s professional industry experience includes research and operations roles in major energy and service companies (Chevron, ARCO, Mobil, Fugro, Western Geophysical); small business ownership as a founder, CEO and chief scientist of a start-up technology company (4th Wave Imaging, purchased by Fugro in 2007); and as a consultant for seismic imaging and inversion projects, especially time-lapse subsurface monitoring. Lumley’s professional academic experience includes professor and chair positions at UT Dallas and the University of Western Australia, plus adjunct professor positions at the University of Southern California and Stanford University. He has published more than 150 scientific articles in refereed journals and conference proceedings, receiving eight Best Paper awards and more than 2,500 journal citations. Lumley has served as an expert advisor to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and numerous other industry and government scientific organizations.

Lumley has been an SEG member for more than 30 years and has served variously as first vice president (2009–2010), Distinguished Lecturer (2000), chair or member on numerous committees, and faculty adviser for a university Student Chapter. He benefited from SEG scholarships as a student, and has since permanently endowed SEG and American Geophysical Union (AGU) scholarships in energy and environmental geophysics. Lumley was honored with SEG’s first J. Clarence Karcher Award in 1996 for his pioneering contributions to the development of 4D seismology.

Position Statement

Lists of the top 10 grand challenges facing humanity almost always include energy, environment, food, and water. Applied geophysics, and therefore SEG, has a critical role to play in helping to address these grand challenges. SEG is a strong contributor to the exploration and production of energy, minerals, and other natural resources, and societal demand for these likely will continue for multiple decades, until renewable energy and synthetic materials are available at scales necessary to supply global requirements. In parallel, SEG must continue diversifying its scientific portfolio in applied geophysics to ensure its future relevance and success. In addition to maintaining our core strengths in natural resources, we must continue to address a wider array of societal challenges such as access to clean water, protecting the environment, hardening infrastructure against climate change, and mitigating the risks of both natural and manmade geo-hazards. If elected to the SEG Board of Directors, I will be honored to work with SEG members to further implement this vision by increasing collaboration with the fundamental earth sciences (e.g., AGU) and engineering (e.g., National Academy of Engineering) and by developing new initiatives to enhance expertise, funding, and opportunities for our members in order to sustain SEG’s leadership role in applied geophysics.

Connie J. VanSchuyver is a technical training and development manager at TGS. She received her BS in mathematics from Texas A&M University in 1977 and began working as a seismic processor at Seiscom Delta in January 1978. She also worked at Champlin Petroleum, BKW, Conoco, and GDC. She began her MS in geophysics at the University of Houston (UH), attending class at night while at GDC and completing it in 2004. She was a full-time student at UH from 2004 to 2006 while working on a PhD, completing both written and oral exams, but not a dissertation. In 2006, she began working at Paradigm in customer support, supporting processing and imaging, plus reservoir characterization before moving to training development. In 2013, she moved to TGS to organize and develop a global training program and has managed that since. In addition, she has taken on many other tasks including documentation, internal website management, and external website organization and material. She is an active member of SEG, the Geophysical Society of Houston, and the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers. VanSchuyver has been a reviewer for papers submitted for the SEG Annual Meeting in AVO for several years, and has served as a session chairman several times.

Tracy J. Stark can best be described as a “consultant with a research habit.” He prefers to take on projects that require, at least in part, the creation of a new approach or technique to solve. He started his career with a 10-year stint at Exxon Production Research Lab in Houston. He received a BS (1979) and PhD (1986) in geological sciences (geophysics option) from the University of Texas at Austin, under the guidance of Milo Backus. At Exxon, Stark first worked on the direct hydrocarbon detection team before creating the “surface slice” method for 3D seismic interpretation. He was one of three founding members of Exxon’s self-directed visualization team that constructed a “blue room” for visualization. In 1996, he moved to ARCO’s research lab in Plano, Texas, helping design and program their two generations of immersive visualization environments prior to the lab’s closing due to the acquisition by BP. In 2000 he founded STARK Research, where he created techniques to build “age volumes” and associated “wheeler volumes” as well as new spectral decomposition, frequency enhancement, and other interpretation techniques. Stark has volunteered for SEG in a variety of positions throughout his career. He has served as a past editorial board member of The Leading Edge, was the technical program chairperson of the 2008 Annual Meeting, and was a coorganizer of many postconvention and summer research workshops. He is currently on the editorial board of Interpretation. In addition, Stark is an honorary life member and past president of the Dallas Geophysical Society.

Stuart Wright received a BS in geology/geophysics from Northern Arizona University in 1980. From 1980 to 1987, he worked in Denver for Cities Service/OXY as an exploration geophysicist. Wright then worked for Western Geophysical from 1987 to 2003 as a data processor and as a design geophysicist. In 2003, he joined Dawson Geophysical as manager of geophysics, where he was responsible for 3D survey design, parameter testing, and other acquisition issues. He currently holds the title of chief geophysicist.

 Wright is the author/coauthor of several papers including “Fundamental 3-D seismic survey design,” “Seismic data acquisition in mountainous terrain,” and “Lodgepole 3-D seismic: Design, acquisition, and processing.” He is a member of SEG, where he has served numerous years as session chair, “key contact,” abstract reviewer, and volunteer chairman. Wright is also a member of the Denver Geophysical Society (president in 2012), the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the 3D Seismic Symposium Committee, and RCP. He has been invited to speak about 3D topics across the country, including as a guest lecturer at the Colorado School of Mines since 2003.

Debra Phillips has over 36 years of experience working as a petroleum geophysicist. She started her career at Amoco, continuing with BP, and retiring from that company in 2011. During that time, she worked exploration, production, and development in the Permian Basin, Rocky Mountains, Anadarko Basin, Gulf of Mexico, and offshore California in the United States. Her overseas projects were in Somalia, Norway, Russia, Venezuela, and Trinidad. Phillips then worked for Hyperdynamics from 2011 to 2013 on Guinea exploration. She worked for BHP on exploration projects in Australia, Brazil, and Africa from 2014 to 2017. She is currently retired. She was the Geophysical Society of Houston (GSH) board secretary for 2015–2016. She served on the Colorado School of Mines RCP Advisory Council for many years. Phillips earned a BS in geology from Baylor University and an MS in geophysics from Colorado School of Mines, where she worked under Tom Davis. She is a member of SEG, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, GSH, and the Houston Geological Society.

Rachel Newrick is an exploration geophysicist working and teaching internationally with a focus on seismic interpretation. She completed a BSc in geology (1992) and a BSc honors in geophysics (1993) at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. She earned a PhD in exploration seismology (2004) from the University of Calgary.

 During her career, Newrick has worked as a summer student/researcher for BHP (Melbourne), Occidental (Houston), ExxonMobil (Houston), and Veritas (Calgary). She worked full time for Nexen (Calgary and London) and Cairn Energy (Edinburgh). She is now based in Alberta, Canada with Racian Ventures. In addition, she is an instructor with RPS-Nautilus and teaches a variety of seismic interpretation courses internationally.

 Newrick is the coauthor of the SEG Geophysical Monograph Series no. 13, Fundamentals of Geophysical Interpretation, a contributor to two 52 Things… books, and has presented at a variety of conferences and technical luncheons.

 She has been a member of SEG since 1999 where she has volunteered as a conference session chairperson, presented numerous papers, reviewed Interpretation papers, and served on the Field Camps Committee for four years (chair 2011–2013).

 Newrick is also a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers, and the Canadian SEG (where she recently served as vice president, president, and past president from 2014–2017).

Ana Curcio simultaneously earned an MS in physics from the School of Sciences and an MS in geodesy-geophysical engineering from the School of Engineering at Buenos Aires University. She is currently obtaining a PhD from the same university. Curcio is an Active Member of SEG where she has served as a Council representative (2016), is involved with SEAM, is a member of the Latin America Regional Advisory Committee, and currently volunteers to help translate Sheriff’s Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Geophysics into Spanish. She is also a member of the board of directors of the Argentinean Association of Petroleum Geologists and Geophysicists. Her main area of interest is the integration of seismic and electromagnetics, in particular the applications for conventional/unconventional reservoir monitoring, and elastic and electrical anisotropy. She has developed a 3D anisotropic electromagnetic code for fracking electromagnetic monitoring purposes and its integration with microseismic. In the oil industry, Curcio worked for Schlumberger Brazil (hydraulic fracturing). Her exploration geophysicist position at Pan American Energy (60% British Petroleum), allowed her to develop skills on seismic interpretation (onshore, offshore, and deep targets) and microseismic for unconventional reservoirs. She also worked for Petrobras, where she focused on characterization of unconventional reservoirs, microseismic applications, anisotropy studies with VSP, pore-pressure studies and its integration with seismic and geomechanics. Her international consultancy activity is on electromagnetic methods (magnetotellurics), covering the entire scope of the technology spectrum; she reached leadership level and is proficient in operationally and technically supervising a field crew. Curcio is motivated on working with cultural and ethnic diversity. Apart from Spanish and English, she speaks Portuguese and communicates in Chinese. Her main objectives as a Council representative would be to: (1) connect the world of applied geophysics, promoting networking based on cultural and ethnic diversity; (2) translate SEG material and promote new material; (3) construct a bridge between the new generation of young and expert geophysicists, inspiring each other; (4) construct a bridge between academia and industry; and (5) integrate innovative technologies from shallow to deep targets.

Anton Bogrash is a senior geophysicist at Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS). He is also a geophysics PhD candidate at Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) in Russia. He received his BSc in hydrogeology and engineering geology in 2010 and an MSc in petroleum geoscience in 2012 from MSU. In 2011, he won the Schlumberger Scholarship Award.

 Bogrash joined PGS Reservoir in Moscow in 2011 as an intern and worked on seismic interpretation projects. In 2012, he transferred to onboard processing to work on seismic vessels across the globe. His efforts revolve around raw seismic data quality control, creation and validation of dual-sensor acquisition deliverables, as well as full-integrity processing stages and fast-track imaging.

At MSU, Bogrash is researching multiple-point geostatistical modeling for reservoir property estimation with a multidisciplinary approach employing seismic stratigraphy, inversion, and rock physics. His research interests also include broadband seismic and uncertainty quantification. He is a member of SEG and the International Association for Mathematical Geosciences.

Sandra Tegtmeier-Last currently works as an experimental processing geophysicist for Shell Global Solutions International in the Netherlands. She holds an MSc (2001) in geophysics from Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany and a PhD in applied sciences (2007) from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. From 2006 to 2013, she worked as a research geophysicist for Chevron in San Ramon, California.

Aside from her interest in seismic processing and imaging, she is also keen on finding ways to promote and support STEM education in schools.

She is a member of SEG, the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE), and the German Geophysical Society. She has served one term as SEG District 8 representative and is a member of SEG’s Continuing Education Committee. She has also served two years as a member of EAGE’s Student Affairs Committee (2003–2005).

Tariq A. Alkhalifah is a professor in the Physical Sciences and Engineering Division of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). He joined KAUST in June 2009. Previously, Alkhalifah was a research professor and director of the Oil and Gas Research Institute at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). He also held the positions of associate research professor, assistant research professor, and research assistant at KACST. From 1996 to 1998, Alkhalifah served as a postdoctoral researcher for the Stanford Exploration Project at Stanford University. He received the J. Clarence Karcher Award from SEG and the Conrad Schlumberger Award from the European Association for Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE) in 2003. In addition, he served as an honorary lecturer for SEG in 2011. Alkhalifah is a member of SEG and EAGE. He received a PhD and an MS in geophysics from Colorado School of Mines. He holds a BS in geophysics from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia.

Yonghyun Chung is a research associate at Seoul National University in South Korea. He attended the same university, where he received a BS (1996) from the department of mineral and petroleum engineering, and an MS (1998) and PhD (2011) in geo­physics. He held postdoc­toral fellowship and research assistant professor positions at Hanyang University and was a visiting professor at Inha University before joining the Research Institute of Energy and Resources at Seoul National University in 2016. Besides his research experience, he has 10 years of experience as an exploration geophysicist and software engineer. His current research interests include moving beyond linear approximations in nonlinear geophysical inverse problems. He is an Active Member of SEG.