Near-Surface Geophysics Technical Section 2020 Elections

Erika Gasperikova is a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Prior to joining LBNL (2002), she was a postdoctoral researcher and an associate specialist at the University of California at Berkeley. She received a RNDr. in applied geophysics (1990) from the Comenius University, Slovakia, an MS in geophysics (1995) from the University of Utah, and a Ph.D. in engineering geoscience (1999) from the University of California at Berkeley. Erika’s scientific interests focus on applications of electric and electromagnetic methods (EM), potential-field methods, and joint seismic and EM to environmental and groundwater exploration, carbon dioxide sequestration, geothermal and natural resources exploration.

Erika has actively participated in a variety of SEG activities since she joined the society as a student in 1993, and became a president of the SEG student section at UC Berkeley. Throughout her carrier, Erika has been a reviewer, an associate editor for Electrical and Electromagnetic Methods, and since 2018 an assistant editor of Geophysics. Erika also served on the SEG Council. As an active member of the SEG Research Committee, she has helped organized and chaired numerous sessions and workshops. Erika has been also involved in organizing SAGEEP meetings. Her local community involvements include serving on the LBNL Best Practices Diversity Council (2005-2013), being the president (2017-2018) and now the past president (2019-2020) of the Bay Area Geophysical Society. Erika is also a member of EAGE and AGU.

Position Statement

SEG Near-Surface Geophysics Technical Section (NSTS) plays a vital and important role in advancing and promoting the rigorous science, technology, and professional practice of applied near-surface geophysics. This closely aligns with my career philosophy, and being a strong advocate of professional societies I trust I can contribute to achieve this mission.

Through my research in applied geophysics I learned that the state-of-the-art discoveries, tools or technologies find their place and acceptance in the industry only if a feedback loop between the research and the industry that provides mutual understanding of needs and solutions exists. I believe our members would benefit from having an access to a platform where these discussions and exchanges could happen. Near surface research and applications are often done on a shoe string budget. NSTS has demonstrated to be a vital part of the SEG. The SEG has extensive collective expertise and knowledge, and hence it is very important that, when available, we leverage relevant technologies from oil and gas industry. I am confident that my knowledge and experience in this area would benefit NSTS.

My goals as an NSTS officer would be to (1) continue increasing visibility of NSTS through technical sessions at the SEG annual meeting, (2) organize virtual meetings and workshops (local or global), including an outreach to our sister societies like AGU and EAGE, (3) build a platform where the industry, academia and students can interact and exchange ideas, and (4) look for ways to further engage students and early career geophysicists.

As a member-driven technical section, our success depends on members’ engagement. I value our diverse membership, and I would be reaching out to you for help and cooperation. Thank you for your consideration.

Jacob Spinsby started his career in consulting with Terracon Consultants in 2005 after receiving his MSc in Geological Sciences from Arizona State University and his BA from Cornell College in 2003. He performed near-surface geophysical work nationwide out of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa office while starting the geophysical group for Terracon.

He moved to the Denver, Colorado metro area in 2011 to better position himself and his group to be able to offer services nationwide. As the geophysical group grew, so did its footprint. He has performed geophysical work in 48 states and 5 countries, with the geophysical group performing work throughout the US and world.

Jacob was technical discipline leader for Jacobs Engineering, managing the subsurface utility engineering (SUE) and near-surface geophysical work for their large client base. Jacob joined the specialty SUE firm T2/Cardno as the near-surface geophysics lead before rejoining Terracon in 2019 as National Director for Geophysics.

As National Director of Geophysics, Jacob provides near-surface leadership and technical direction to a group of 50+ geophysicists and geophysical specialists throughout Terracon.

In his career Jacob has managed and performed thousands of shallow-surface explorations, advanced subsurface utility locating/designating, and geophysical and infrastructure investigations using techniques such as radio detection (RD/RFEMI), refraction microtremor (ReMi), multi-channel analysis of surface-waves (MASW), downhole/crosshole seismic, p- and s-wave refraction and reflection, GPR (high- and low-frequency as well as multi-channel), 2D/3D/4D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), electromagnetic profiling (time- and frequency domain), and magnetometer surveys, among others. He has managed and performed numerous non-destructive evaluations using techniques including GPR, pulse-echo, impact-echo, infrared (IR) camera studies, and falling-weight deflectometer (FWD) surveys and analyses.

He has managed groups large too small. He has successfully grown and developed the geophysical services at companies from their very beginning. He has managed individual projects upwards of $1 million and groups performing work in excess of $10 million per year.

Position Statement

As chair-elect, I would focus and support:

• Integration and interaction between the near-surface geophysical and engineering community.  Having started, worked, and built near-surface geophysical groups within consulting engineering companies, Jacob has a long history of collaboration with engineers and the engineering community.
• Continued support of educational programs:
  • Outreach to engineers to better educate them on what geophysics can, and more importantly, can’t provide them.  Outreach to ASCE and ACEC specifically.
  • Support of the current degree-level geophysical programs.  At the start of his career, few programs offered much in the way of near-surface geophysics that prepared students for careers.  The academic community has made great strides in improving the career preparation for near-surface geophysicists.  Jacob will continue to support that effort and offer improvements from his perspective in the consulting world.
• Inspiring the next generation of geophysicists.  The near-surface world has many exciting opportunities to perform this work for fascinating projects, and our next generation of students will be critical to build on the momentum the industry and academia have established.

Growth of the near-surface expertise within SEG.  AS the industry grows, so too does the opportunity for professional societies to better support the expanding market.  SEG is uniquely positioned as it is already plugged into the larger geophysical community offering a wide breadth of expertise throughout the geophysical industry.

I am an applied, near-surface geophysicist with a focus on electrical and electromagnetic methods. I am currently serving as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of South Florida, which is also where I earned my Ph.D. In this position, I have contributed the geophysical component to a cultural resource preservation project at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. I have integrated terrestrial LiDAR scan data with geophysical data to capture spatiotemporal changes following a sinkhole collapse in west-central Florida. Lastly, I’ve explored non-traditional methods to improve ground-penetrating image resolution.

My interests lie at the intersection of optimizing geophysical techniques, multidiscipline research, and creating robust visualizations. To date, the applications of my work include electromagnetic response simulations, delineating historic structures, monitoring coastal groundwater dynamics, imaging tuff ring stratigraphy, and mapping mantled karst as it relates to hydrogeologic frameworks.

I would be delighted to serve as Secretary of SEG NSTS. The role of the Secretary may be straightforward, but it encompasses essential tasks to ensure clear communication among the Leadership Team, SEG Staff, and Section committees. As Secretary, I will be vigilant about keeping detailed records of plans, discussions, and decisions between members of the Leadership Team and quickly make those records available to relevant SEG personnel. It will be my pleasure to be involved with NSTS by facilitating meeting logistics, including, but not limited to, taking meeting minutes, scheduling teleconferences, preparing presentations. I look forward to the opportunity to be a part of a great group and learn as much as possible about SEG section operations.

Ms. Pendrigh is currently a senior geophysicist at Collier Geophysics, serving as lead geophysical manager for the Lakewood, Colorado office. She has a broad range of experience in engineering and environmental geophysics, as well as exploration geophysics. Her experience with environmental and engineering projects includes using electrical, electromagnetic, magnetic, seismic, and resistivity methods for bedrock and groundwater mapping, dam and levee assessment, seismic site class determination, utility and well location, and transportation infrastructure assessment. She has extensive consulting experience with near-surface seismic, electrical, and electromagnetic methods, as well as airborne potential field and electromagnetic methods. In addition, she has extensive experience in 2D and 3D graphical/visual displays of results, and multi-source data integration. Ms. Pendrigh has a M.S. in geophysics, with her graduate research involving integration of geological and geophysical methods for facies characterization in thin carbonate oil and gas reservoirs.

I am running for Secretary of the Near-Surface Technical Session of SEG. As a team manager in my professional career, I am organized, a steadfast notes/minutes taker, and am able to integrate multiple tasks and people into a cohesive and efficient group. I have been a member of SEG of 16 years, and for much of my career I have benefited from my membership, specifically the NS section of SEG. I greatly value the community that is centered on the organization and look forward to having the opportunity to interact with this community even more by serving as the Secretary of the Near-Surface Technical Session.

Dr. Chih-Ping Lin is currently a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Taiwan. He is also a member of the Disaster Prevention and Water Environment Research Center at NCTU. He received his Master of Science in Civil Engineering (1996), Master of Science in Electrical & Computer Engineering (1998), and Ph.D. (1999) degrees from the Purdue University, USA. He joined the faculty of NCTU as an assistant professor in 1999 and was promoted to full professor in 2006. He served as the Chairman of the Department of Civil Engineering at NCTU from 2016 to 2019. His primary research interests are engineering monitoring based on electromagnetic waveguide and developments and applications of near-surface geophysics for solving engineering problems. He is more deeply involved in the developments of time domain reflectometry, seismic surface wave method, and electrical resistivity tomography. Current research projects focus on solving geotechnical, geo-environmental, and water resources-related problems using geophysical methods, including quality inspection of ground improvement, non-destructive evaluation of dams, subsurface imaging of soil moisture, investigation of soil and groundwater contamination, landslide monitoring, suspended sediment monitoring in rivers and reservoirs, and scour monitoring. He received the ASTM Hogentogler Award in 2008 and served on the board of the Environmental & Engineering Geophysical Society from 2010 to 2013. He recently received the 2020 Outstanding Research Award, the most prestigious research award in Taiwan, from the Ministry of Science and Technology.