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2003 Annual Reportof the Society of Exploration Geophysicists

Reports of the Officers Page

President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mike Bahorich 3President-elect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Peter M. Duncan 4First vice president . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wayne D. Pennington 5Second vice president . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Michal Ellen Ruder 6Vice president . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ali Tura 6Secretary-treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Sumner 7Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gérard Herman 8

Reports of the Standing Committee Chairmen

Advisory (president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sally G. Zinke 10Annual International Meeting 2003 (president-elect) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .George McCalpin 10Constitution and Bylaws (president-elect) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Walter E. Johnson 10Continuing Education (president-elect) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rod Cotton and Joseph Mills 11Development and Production (first vice president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Michael Wilt 12Distinguished Lecture (second vice president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bob A. Hardage 12Exhibitors (president-elect) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kim Hardesty 13Foundation Board of Directors (president) Richard Baile, Lee Lawyer, and Gene Sparkman 13Foundation Trustee Associates (president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sam L. Evans 14Geoscience Center (first vice president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gene Sparkman 15Global Affairs (vice president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Shane Coperude and Mariangela Capello 17Gravity and Magnetics (second vice president) . . . . . . . .Guy Flanagan and Alan Herring 17Honors and Awards (president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rutt Bridges 18Interpretation (first vice president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chris Thompson 19Membership (secretary-treasurer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bob Wyckoff 20Mining and Geothermal (secretary-treasurer) . . . . . . . . . . . .Dick West and Mary Poulton 22Nominations (president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Walt Lynn 23Online Governing Board (editor) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joe Dellinger and Henry Bland 24Publications (editor) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chris Liner 25Research (vice president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Stewart A. Levin 25Reviews (editor) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bill Green 26Scholarship (vice president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lynne Justus Edleson 27Student Sections/Academic Liaison (vice president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Doug Wyatt 31Technical Standards (first vice president) . . . . . . . .Alan Faichney and Michael W. Norris 33Tellers (president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Richard S. Day 33THE LEADING EDGE Editorial Board (editor) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rocky Roden 34Translations (editor) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ilya Tsvankin 35

(Executive Committee liaison officer listed in parentheses)

Reports of the Representatives Page

American Geological Institute (AGI)Member Society Council (second vice president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Walt Lynn 36

American Petroleum Institute (API)Central Committee for Telecommunications (first vice president) . . . . . . . . . Cliff Ray 36

Offshore Technology Conference (OTC)Board of Directors (vice president) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jack Caldwell 37

OTC Technical Program (secretary-treasurer) . . . . . . . . . . . .Dan Ebrom and Guy Purnell 38Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (PTTC) (first vice president) . . .Hugh Rowlett Jr. 39

Financial Statements

Foundation with Independent Auditors’ Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Society of Exploration Geophysicists with Independent Auditors’ Report . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

(Executive Committee liaison officer listed in parentheses)

SEG 2003 Annual Report

Mike Bahorich, president

The Society of Exploration Geophysicists providessignificant value, confirmed by growth across the globeto nearly 19 000 people, the largest membership in 17years. Growth, value, and global impact have occurredthrough a combined effort during many years by tirelessvolunteers and a dedicated staff in Tulsa. It has been apleasure to serve as SEG president and to continue thework of previous Executive Committees, all focused oncontinuously improving our Society.

Why does SEG exist? Our most important function isto archive and disseminate geophysical knowledge. Wehave been hugely successful during the years, in thatmost major geophysical innovations that benefit industrytoday can be found in the pages of our journals and con-vention documents. In the process of this importantwork, new advances are spawned by creative peoplemeeting at our functions. We should be proud of SEG.

The 2002–2003 SEG Executive Committee built onthe firm foundation of previous committees to delivervalue to the membership. We have attempted to focuslimited SEG resources on activities that benefit a largenumber of our members. Survey data indicate that mem-bers are most interested in our Annual Meeting, Website, and publications.

The Annual Meeting will open strongly with a groupof top CEOs in TLE’s forum, The Future of the UpstreamOil and Gas Business. One of the agenda items for thisyear was to add business focus to SEG. We are pleasedthat Rocky Roden, Mike Forrest, and others have assem-bled a truly sage group of oil-industry executives andleaders to discuss their views of the future. A variety ofvantage points will help give our members guidancefrom a balanced perspective.

In addition, astronaut/geoscientist James Reilly willinspire nearly a thousand Dallas-area students and SEGmembers with stories of his space-exploration adven-tures. Under the capable leadership of George McCalpinand John Castagna, an outstanding exposition andTechnical Program has been assembled.

The SEG Web site has been improved dramatically.Clearer navigation now allows most pages to be accesseddirectly from the main menu. GEOPHYSICS (including articlesdating to the 1930s) and THE LEADING EDGE can be browsedeasily online. These important archives constitute the

world’s largest collection of applied geophysical papers,and this technology provides billions of dollars of value toindustry and ultimately to consumers.

As noted earlier, our most important activity is toarchive and disseminate geophysical knowledge, andthere is no better instrument than the Web for accom-plishing this. In addition, with members in more than 100countries, information can be delivered to the other sideof the world just as easily as next door. Recognizing thispower, our committee worked with sister societies on aproject that someday may enable our members to searchacross related journals and to download articles seamlessly.

Publications, including THE LEADING EDGE, deliver con-siderable value, and improvements are under way to thisjournal. A new focus is providing more articles that keepmembers up to date with current industry news and busi-ness trends. Costs have decreased for those publishing inGEOPHYSICS, with the elimination of some page charges.Regarding epublications, SEG worked with a joint-societygeoscience electronic search tool called GeoRef to linkdirectly to GEOPHYSICS and THE LEADING EDGE.

SEG membership demographics indicate that weare an “older” technical society, with a median age of 45.It is interesting that our U.S. members have a median ageof 48, whereas our non-U.S. members have a median ageof 41. Half of SEG members reside outside the UnitedStates, and as people retire, our membership will becomepredominantly non-U.S. based.

We see growth in our profession outside the UnitedStates, but fewer young people from the United Statesnow enter the field of geophysics. Our committee recog-nized that to feed the pipeline, we must encourage stu-dents to join SEG. Through the generosity of Halliburtonand John Gibson, we offer free memberships to studentsanywhere on the globe, resulting in a notable increase inour student ranks.

We have also recently initiated a global membershipprogram sponsored by Apache that enables geophysicistsfrom less-developed nations to join SEG at no cost. Withthese programs, as well as our Member-Get-a-MemberCampaign, SEG membership recently hit a 17-year high.Our international membership hit another record high.If this level of growth continues, we will see an all-timemembership record next year.

Intersociety cooperation continues to improve,and SEG’s first joint international property exposition is

Executive Committee Reports

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set to take place in London. SEG and AAPG had asuccessful joint international meeting in Cairo lastOctober, with excellent attendance and a strong technicalprogram. As mentioned earlier, multiple efforts are underway with our sister societies toward delivering electronicsearch capabilities across journals. The SEG/AAPGStudent Expo continues to be of value for students andemployers, and a Virtual Student Expo is being developedfor students who cannot travel.

SEG education over the Web took a step forward thisyear, with the first presentation of a distinguished lecture.Earlier, a prototype distance-learning event was held, com-plete with streaming video. It is expected that SEG willexpand use of Web technology to reach out across theglobe to deliver cost-effective educational opportunities.

The Distinguished Lecture and DistinguishedInstructor Short Course programs remain highlights tomembers. Many thanks go to Olivier Dubrule and ArtWeglein for delivering terrific presentations whilekeeping up with a grueling travel schedule.

The Business Office staff managed workload andpriorities, using a scorecard with ranked objectives. Thistool helped to clearly communicate the most importanttasks for the staff to focus on. Objectives were deter-mined by a coordinated effort of the staff of nearly 50employees and the Executive Committee.

In closing, it has been an honor and privilege toserve as SEG president, and the memories of the finepeople I have met and worked alongside will be with meforever. I would like to express my sincere thanks to allof the SEG volunteers and committee chairmen for a jobwell done. I especially thank Peter Duncan, WaynePennington, Michal Ruder, Ali Tura, John Sumner, andGérard Herman for their time, energy, and talents, whichwere much appreciated at Executive Committee meet-ings. I also thank Mary Fleming and the entire BusinessOffice staff in Tulsa for tireless efforts. Finally, I am grate-ful for the generosity of Apache, which enabled me toserve as SEG president. I thank Donna, Mark, Ben, andEric for being such a supporting family and for travelingwith me. Thank you for a wonderful year.

Peter M. Duncan, president-elect

As president-in-training (elect) my function has beenlargely to act as understudy to president Mike Bahorichand prepare to do my best to step into his rather largeshoes. Mike is a hard act to follow. He has done a fine jobof steering us through difficult financial times and settingus on a sound path to the future.

I was fortunate to be able to act as Executive Commit-tee liaison to a small number of committees, as follows:

• Continuing Education—I attended three committeemeetings during the year. The DISC program, nowacknowledged as one of the more tangible benefits ofmembership, entered its sixth year with another finecourse. The regular CE course program, however, con-tinues to struggle, with low attendance. The commit-tee is wrestling with how to address this and the issueof serving our increasingly international membership.

• Distance learning over the Internet appears to pre-sent a real opportunity. A prototype Web broadcast ofan hour long lecture was made in the spring. Muchwas learned, and we can expect near-term progresstoward delivering part of the CE program over theWeb.

• Annual Meeting Steering Committee—I was a ratherpassive observer of the second meeting of the DallasConvention Steering Committee. Between the experi-ence of the committee members and the competence ofthe meetings staff from headquarters, there was little forme to do but marvel at the workings of this well-oiledmachine. I am looking forward to another great AnnualMeeting experience in Dallas this October, thanks tothis hardworking group.

• Constitution and Bylaws—I attended one meeting ofthe committee during the SEG 2002 Annual Meeting inSalt Lake City. During the year, several constitutionalissues were referred to the committee for comment.The committee’s response has continued to be swiftand thorough.

• International Association of Geophysical Contractors(IAGC)—This group is not a committee of SEG but isan independent organization that shares many com-mon interests and members with SEG. In the last year,this influential group has contributed more actively toSEG. The IAGC has begun to make a quarterly contri-bution to THE LEADING EDGE to keep SEG members bet-ter informed of its activities and concerns. The IAGCalso has undertaken to sponsor two high-profile eventsat the 2003 Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Theseevents are aimed at attracting more of the geophysical“decision makers” to the exhibition. These effortspromise to make this a better show for everyone.

• It will be important that we build on this initiative sothat the exhibition, which is so important to the SEG revenue stream, continues to be relevant andsuccessful. Finding a model for exhibitions in NorthAmerica and around the world that works for both theexhibitors and the sponsoring societies is a challengefacing SEG and sister societies.

Two highlights of the year for me have been attend-ing the AAPG Leadership Forum last February andattending the ASAE CEO Symposium in April. The formeris an annual AAPG event that brings together about 100AAPG leaders from around the world for a weekend of

4 SEG 2003 Annual Report

getting to know one another and planning for the yearsahead. SEG, SPE, SPWLA, GSA, and AGI were included ina very enjoyable and worthwhile sharing of ideas.

The ASAE CEO Symposium is a two-day course forpresidents and executive directors of scientific associa-tions, to help them work together more effectively for thebenefit and success of their associations. The course waswell worth the time and expense and has left me moreexcited than ever about the year to come.

As I prepare to move from president-elect to presi-dent, I have attempted to identify three or four concretegoals or at least areas of focus for the coming year. Atthis point, I have settled on: (1) improving our servicesto sections as a means of extending the SEG franchiseglobally, (2) improving and expanding the services tocorporate and student members, (3) building awarenessof the SEG Foundation and its very important role in ourorganization, and (4) making greater use of the Web as apublishing and educational vehicle. There is a world ofopportunity in these four areas alone, and it is likely thatmore opportunities will arise as the year progresses.Fortunately, I will have lots of help.

Finally, I would like to thank the literally hundreds ofvolunteers who work on the various committees of theSociety. You are the engine that drives this machine.And a special thank-you goes to the headquarters staff.You are the mechanics who keep the machine running.

Wayne D. Pennington, 1st vice president

It has been a pleasure to serve my colleagues in SEG byholding office in the Society, and I thank all the memberswho have supported me in this effort. When I came intothis office, my main goal was to strengthen the role of thevarious committees in the governance of the Society. Thecommittees are made up by volunteer members, and theyrepresent the most active portion of the Society. The com-mittee chairs are typically in office for two or more years,whereas the Executive Committee members (other thanthe president and president-elect) are in office for just oneyear. This ensures more continuity at the committee lead-ership level than at the elected executive level.

My work was made easy by the fact that recent andcurrent Executive Committees were composed of peoplewho also felt that the committees are where the realaction is. In general, committees experiment with newmodes of operation and react quickly to changes in theenvironment (political, technical, business, etc.) to con-tinue to provide real services to their members and therest of the Society and geophysical community. The roleof the Executive Committee should be to encourage andsupport their experimentation and entrepreneurialnature. This and recent past Executive Committees havedone so, and I think that the committees of SEG are thehealthiest that they have been in recent years, thanks totheir own hard work.

As first vice president, several committees or SEGliaisons to outside groups provide me with updates andinvolve me in at least some of their discussions. Theseinclude the committees on Development and Production(D&P), Technical Standards, Geoscience Center, andInterpretation, and liaisons with the API CentralCommittee for Telecommunications and the PetroleumTechnology Transfer Council (PTTC). Their individualreports can be read elsewhere in this publication, but Iwant to point out some specific trends among them.

The Technical Standards Committee has moved for-ward on additional reviews of standards, following itsmonumental revision of SEG-Y. This committee seekscomments from the members at large, actively solicitscomments from other agencies and groups, and develops,over time, a consensus that has been reviewed and exam-ined from all conceivable angles. The final product isextremely well thought out and as close to perfect as ishumanly possible, but they still collect complaints andsuggestions for future revisions. Did you know that allof the SEG standards are available free to anyone, simplyby accessing them through the www.seg.org Web site?That is the way all standards should be established andpresented!

Twelve years ago, the D&P Committee conducted itsfirst summer forum, a concept fairly new to SEG, and notwithout opposition from within the Society. Over theyears, its success has proved the value of a meeting ofpeople interested in common problems or goals (ratherthan techniques or methodologies). Now that most geo-physicists are in fact development and production geo-physicists, the committee is going to experiment withdifferent ways of focusing the meeting on specific top-ics, demonstrating the ability of committees to changewhen one goal is accomplished and other challenges arebeing faced.

The Interpretation Committee is the only committeein SEG that is so completely cooperative with a commit-tee in a sister society (AAPG) that their memberships arenearly identical. They are preparing a series of articlesthat might, if successful, appear as a new semiregular col-umn in TLE, based on pitfalls or best practices (depend-ing on your point of view). Ongoing efforts include vari-ous methods of outreach to students at the universitylevel.

The Geoscience Center continues to evolve and isbecoming stronger and more financially independentand having a greater impact in the larger communitywith each year. This too is a grass-roots effort that hasoccasionally had mixed support from the Society in thepast. Fortunately, it has survived and is now on the vergeof thriving.

Business people often speak of portfolio manage-ment—you need some items with a high risk and apotential for a terrific payout, but you also need yourbread-and-butter income-producing items. Our Society is

SEG 2003 Annual Report 5

no different, even if we ignore the financial compo-nents. We need committees that experiment with newideas and methods of sharing technical, scientific, orengineering advances and concepts. Some of these willfail, but most will succeed, with modification. A few willsucceed tremendously and go on to shape the Society ofthe future.

I am proud to say that the SEG committees are healthyand are responding to the forces that shape our envi-ronment. They are moving ahead in ways that will leadto the SEG of the future, one that we will continue to beproud of and which will benefit the lives and careers ofall members.

Michal Ellen Ruder, 2nd vice president

My tenure as second vice president has been a tremen-dous experience for me as I have endeavored to promotethe interests and needs of our diverse membershipwithin the Society. It has been both a great opportunityto learn more about how SEG works and what we canprovide to our constituency, and also a rewarding oppor-tunity to help impact change within our organization.

As a nonseismic geophysicist, I have a keen interest in promoting SEG’s services within this sector of ourmembership. As an educator, I am all too aware of thedire need to revamp our delivery of courses to member-ship. Many of our members now live many thousands ofmiles from our primary locations of contract and publiccontinuing education courses.

Throughout my tenure, I have strongly encouragedmy colleagues in nonseismic methods to view SEG notonly as a resource for world-class publications, but alsoas a responsive, reactive organization available to assistin other aspects of the business and science of appliedgeophysics. Many colleagues have expressed surprise at SEG’s willingness to support gravity and magneticsprojects, and they have subsequently been delightedwith SEG’s positive response to requests for assistance.

It is critical that all members feel that the Societyworks for every one of us, regardless of our specialty ingeophysics. The only thing that limits SEG’s ability toserve its members is our reticence in coming forwardwith proposals and requests.

This is evident in the activities of the gravity andmagnetics community this year: a special issue of TLE,initiation of work on a new publication that will be animportant resource book for membership in the years tocome, and financial assistance from the Society to helpthe Gravity and Magnetics Committee host a lecturer forits luncheon at the Annual Meeting. All these effortswere readily facilitated by SEG staff members; theyneeded only a request from the people who spearheadedthe effort to get the ball rolling. Based on SEG’s responseto these initiatives, I anticipate that the nonseismic com-munity will be more proactive in the future with respect

to SEG’s impact on our science, technology, and business.We have every reason to be optimistic about futurespecial projects under SEG’s umbrella.

My second concern, how to bring continuing educa-tion courses to our distant members, is still very much awork in progress. We have tested the distance-learningconcept with an online lecture by Don Herron (see theContinuing Education chair’s discussion). With minormodifications, this format is ready to proceed with fullcourse offerings. I would very much like to see thiseffort accelerating in the coming year, with at least fourcourses offered via distance learning.

In addition, I believe that the Distinguished Lecture(DL) should be delivered in this manner to our memberswho cannot attend the lecture series. The DL is typicallyoffered only in North America. Online delivery of thelecture would be ideal for our overseas members. Thisopportunity must not be lost—our overseas colleagueswould benefit greatly from access to our DL series.

As many of you know, SEG was faced with incrediblefiscal challenges during this past year. The relatively lowattendance at last year’s Annual Meeting, along with thedrop in the Society’s portfolio, produced a significantdeficit in the operating budget. I want to extend mysincere thanks to the entire staff of SEG for your incred-ible effort to help reduce costs during this past year. Thestaff has worked extremely hard, covering additionaltasks that were inherited because of employee attrition(no layoffs, thankfully!) and working long hours toensure that services to membership did not suffer andwere not compromised. The staff should be proud of theefforts that have enabled the Society to maintain superiorservice to membership through this difficult time. We allvery much appreciate your work, and we extend ourthanks to all of you.

Ali Tura, vice president

At the end of my term as vice president of SEG,among the several topics that I will report on, onedeserves particular attention. This topic can be framedas globalization of SEG (see also President’s Page, April2003 TLE). I would like to discuss what we mean byglobalization and where we are in the process.

SEG membership is 50% outside the United States,following a trend well established for the past 17 years. Itis expected that the shift toward international membershipwill continue. Professional organizations in and outside ourindustry are changing and adapting to this new environ-ment and aiming to have a global presence and influence.To be a key player among other professional organizationsand to better serve our changing membership, SEG willhave to develop into a global Society as well. The benefitsof such a change are not only for international membersbut also for U.S. members, who will have access to geo-physics and geophysicists worldwide.


Given the urgency and importance of this topic in the current environment, the SEG Executive Committeehas decided to form an ad hoc committee to consider astrategic plan for SEG globalization. The ad hoc commit-tee on globalization will bring key strategies and ideas to this and future Executive Committees to consider,modify as appropriate, and implement. Some issues tobe considered are: alignment and partnership of SEGwith other professional organizations, being proactive inhaving integrated international meetings held globallyand bringing together geophysicists with other disci-plines, better use of the Global Affairs Committee withits geographic and country representatives, fostering andempowering local SEG sections and better servingmembers at a local level, and better facilitating commu-nication locally and through the Web. Such changes canbe expected to be vital to the well-being of the long-termfuture of SEG.

During my service as vice president of SEG, I had thepleasure and honor of serving as liaison with several of theSEG committees. In particular, I was working with theResearch Committee, Student Sections and AcademicLiaison Committee, and the Global Affairs Committee. TheResearch Committee, as has been true historically, isextremely active in considering issues related to researchand organizing workshops. The joint Summer ResearchWorkshops with EAGE, alternating yearly between Europeand the United States, are particularly important withrespect to international meetings, discussed earlier. Thestart of a new discussion group and brainstorming onresearch will help to identify important topics key to ourdeveloping industry in the future.

The Student Sections and Academic Liaison Committee,another very active committee, supports 76 internationaland 42 U.S. student sections, maintains the student Webpage, and organizes the student reception during the SEGAnnual Meeting.

In addition to the very successful AAPG/SEG StudentExpo, a Virtual Student Expo will be launched withAAPG, SPE, and GSA, this fall. This is a significant step in helping students looking for careers to consider ourindustry without the need and expense of travel. Inaddition, the Virtual Student Expo will help connectstudents and companies, independent of location.

The Global Affairs Committee (GAC) is active in helpingto organize international meetings and promoting SEGactivities worldwide. The global membership program andthe PCs for student sections in developing countries aretwo successful programs that contribute significantly tothe growth of SEG membership. In addition, a new initia-tive on pairing an SEG U.S. section with an SEG interna-tional section is part of a mentoring program. This pro-gram is expected to assist international student sectionsand foster relationships among student societies.

The GAC also assists SEG in international meetingsand with programs such as the Distinguished Lecturer

and Distinguished Instructor Short Courses presentedinternationally. The three regional luncheons and theULG evening reception, organized by the GAC, arebecoming attractive and permanent parts of the AnnualMeeting. Also at the Annual Meeting, a global forum,organized jointly by the GAC and the InternationalShowcase, will bring together experts from the oilindustry to discuss “Doing Business Around the World.”More than 25 companies from global countries willexhibit in the International Showcase.

John Sumner, secretary-treasurer

It has been a pleasure and an honor to serve as yoursecretary-treasurer. Thanks for your support and thanksalso to my fellow Executive Committee members formaking it a good year.

When people ask me how SEG is doing, I give themmy “elevator-ride” answer. It takes about 15 seconds.Here it is:

We have about 18 700 members. Our assets are $12M,mostly in our building in Tulsa, with much of the remain-der in cash and investments. The faltering stock market inthe past several years has negatively impacted our bottomline. Our annual operating budget is $8–9M.

Given slightly more time, I would note that member-ship dues cover only about 13% of the cost of providingthe services we receive from SEG. These includeGEOPHYSICS, THE LEADING EDGE, technical books, our Website at www.seg.org, Continuing Education, the Dis-tinguished Instructor Short Course, DistinguishedLectures, and the Annual Meeting. Almost half of ourincome derives from annual meetings (SEG AnnualMeeting and OTC). Our continued dependence onmeetings for income is something that concerns me.Somewhat less than a quarter of our income comes from advertising and from sales of books and journals.Continuing Education programs and rentals from ourbuilding in Tulsa account for the remainder of our income.

On the flip side, we spend our income to publish the journals and technical books that are our hallmark.We also spend money to organize our meetings. Thosetwo categories account for about a third of our expendi-tures. The remainder of our expenditures goes towarddeveloping and presenting Continuing Education coursesand the Distinguished Instructor and Lecturer programs,and maintaining our building in Tulsa. To learn more,read the account summary in this Annual Report.

Results for the year ending June 30, 2003, include unau-dited revenues and expenses of $8 242 563 and$7 993 543, respectively. The resulting net income is$249 020.

I also serve as liaison between the Executive Committeeand three other committees, Membership, the OTCTechnical Program, and Mining and Geothermal. The


Membership Committee is working to increase our mem-bers and to retain those who are already members. TheMining and Geothermal Committee encourages a strongtechnical program at the Annual Meeting in alternate years.I also acted as a liaison with the Near-Surface Section. Theactivities of these committees and this section will beaddressed elsewhere in this report.

Gérard Herman, editor

This was my second and last year as editor ofGEOPHYSICS. It went very quickly—almost too quickly. Ithas been a fast ride. After the turbulent first year, whereboth the online version of the journal and the onlinepeer review system went live, the second year was ayear of consolidation. When we look at the statistics, wesee that the average first-review cycle time went downspectacularly. In the first year (2001–2002), it had gonedown by 33 days. This was not yet because of the onlinepeer review but was solely because of the fasterresponse of the SEG staff and the editorial team.

The real effect of the online peer review system hasbecome clear in the second year (2002–2003). The first-review cycle time is now less than half of the cycle timeduring preceding years. The cycle time is now aboutthree months on average. This speedup was alsoachieved thanks to the commitment of the SEG staff, in particular Judy Wall and Sheral Danker, who are com-municating much more directly now with authors andeditors because of the online peer review system. Thecontribution of publications director Ted Bakamjian ofSEG has been instrumental in making the online endeav-ors of GEOPHYSICS such a success. He made the rightchoices at the right times.

Of course, quite a few more staff members have beeninvolved in maintaining the quality of our journal, and Iwould like to take the opportunity to thank them also. Inparticular, I would like to thank Judy Hastings, who hadto retire because of health reasons. Apart from the lossof a valuable colleague, this also meant an increasedstrain for the remaining SEG staff members.

The other statistics show that the number of submittedpapers is slightly up. It is difficult to give explanations forthis increase, but I like to think this is related to our steadydecrease in review cycle time and the recent significantreduction in page charges. The statistics, however, alsoshow the continuation of a worrying trend—the steadydecrease of submitted papers from oil companies (downto 6%) and service companies (down to 9%). We have toreverse this trend and are discussing possibilities to do this.After all, there is still a huge amount of expertise in oilcompanies and service companies that could contribute tothe progress of exploration geophysics.

Having said this, I think we are moving in the rightdirection, although there are certainly many challenges

ahead. I enjoyed it. I am glad the ride is over, but I willmiss it nevertheless. I thank all SEG staff members andmembers of THE LEADING EDGE Editorial Board for work-ing with me in such a wonderful way!

Total number of papers submitted for publication inGEOPHYSICS July 1, 2002–June 30, 2003: 249

Table 1. Origin of papers submitted for publicationin GEOPHYSICS by countryJuly 1, 2002–June 30, 2003

USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17United Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12Norway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Switzerland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Saudi Arabia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Taiwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Trinidad and Tobago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Croatia (Hrvatska) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Portugal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Slovak Republic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249


Table 2. Origin of papers submitted for publicationin GEOPHYSICS by employerJuly 1, 2002–June 30, 2003

Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153Research Institutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32Service Companies and Manufacturers . . .23Oil Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15Governments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16Consultants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249

Table 3. Manuscript handling statistics

Year submitted Average number of daysJuly 1–June 30 required for first review

1991–92 1721992–93 1571993–94 1841994–95 1821995–96 2111996–97 1861997–98 2051998–99 2141999–00 2122000–01 2112001–02 1782002–03* 99

*First reviews have not been returned for all papers.

Table 4. Manuscript handling statistics

Average number of daysYear published between acceptanceJuly 1–June 30 and publication

1991–92 1761992–93 1811993–94 1781994–95 2101995–96 N/A1996–97 N/A1997–98 1801998–99 1771999–00 2022000–01 2082001–02 2132002–03 195


AdvisorySally G. Zinke, chairman

The Advisory Committee, which consists of the fivemost recent SEG past presidents, has met four times thisyear, once during the SEG 2002 Annual Meeting in SaltLake City and three times in conjunction with Honorsand Awards Committee meetings in Denver andHouston. The group has also provided comments anddiscussion during the year through e-mail and confer-ence calls. The primary purpose of the committee is toprovide advice and feedback to the SEG president andExecutive Committee regarding issues of continuity,strategic planning, big-picture budgetary items, revenuegeneration, and institutional memory. The committeeserves as a sounding board for the SEG president andmay also address membership concerns that come to its attention.

Seventy-Third Annual MeetingGeorge McCalpin, general chairman

The SEG International Exposition and Seventy-ThirdAnnual Meeting will be held in Dallas, October 26–31,2003. The Dallas Geophysical Society is again the hostfor this meeting and will continue its reputation for plan-ning and providing outstanding events. The newlyremodeled Dallas Convention Center will be the locationof most of the meeting activities, and the nearby HyattRegency will serve as headquarters hotel.

More than 700 technical presentations, both oral andposter, have been reviewed. The accepted papers havebeen scheduled into 10 concurrent sessions fromMonday afternoon through Thursday morning, with theposters being displayed throughout the week. The fullrange of geophysics, from acquisition through process-ing to interpretation, will be covered in the various ses-sions. Two special sessions on exploration in Mexicowill feature simultaneous translations. More than 200companies will fill the exhibit hall with the latest hard-ware and software developments.

On Monday morning, TLE will sponsor a forum fea-turing six outstanding CEOs and consultants who willdiscuss the future of the upstream oil and gas industry.This keynote session will set the tone for the entireweek.

The Applied Science Education program on Mondayafternoon will introduce students and teachers to thebroad field of geophysics and will feature a talk by NASAastronaut Jim Reilly, who has been in space twice andhas a doctorate in geosciences. Local school districts,private schools, and home-school students are beinginvited to attend this program.

Once again, the Honors and Awards program andpresidential session will be held on Sunday afternoonafter the annual Council meeting. This year, it will beheld at the convention center to make it easy for atten-dees to adjourn to the Icebreaker, which will open theexhibit area on Sunday evening.

The 2003 Steering Committee, with the able assistanceof the SEG staff, has developed a fully rounded programto showcase the technical advances in geophysics,mixed with the opportunity to sample the attractions ofthe Dallas area, involving the arts, cuisine, and shopping.The members of the 2003 Steering Committee are GeorgeMcCalpin, general chairman; Ernie Siraki, general vicechairman; John Castagna, Technical Program chairman;Glenn Davis, arrangements chairman; Barry Weinman,Special Programs chairman; Karen McDonald, Inter-national Showcase chairman; Kerry Sweeney, AppliedScience Education chairman; Kim Hardesty, ExhibitorsCommittee chairman; and Betty Scoggin, SpouseProgram chairman.

Constitution and BylawsWalter E. Johnson, chairman

The Constitution and Bylaws Committee reviewed thenew proposed bylaws for the Canadian Society ofExploration Geophysicists. The Canadian Society wascomplimented for: (1) the functional naming of the offi-cers, (2) the inclusion of a well-thought-out code ofethics that has teeth, (3) inspection of the books by mem-bers, and (4) the gender neutrality that was maintained.

The Constitution and Bylaws Committee advised theExecutive Committee on the issue of indemnification ofthe officers of SEG. In our increasingly litigious world, thepotential liability cost to an officer of our Society for perceived bad judgment is increasing. To encourageSEG members to participate in the leadership of the orga-nization, it is felt that the Society needs to better protectits officers from errors and omissions. The Constitutionand Bylaws Committee members did feel that the officers

Reports of the Standing Committee Chairmen

10

should not be protected for cases of obvious criminalactivity.

The Constitution and Bylaws Committee is evaluatingthe manner in which the members are represented onthe SEG Council. The reevaluation of member represen-tation to the council was precipitated by a conflictbetween being a district representative and a member ofan affiliated society. At this time, the committee has norecommendations. However, a major structural changein the way members are represented to the SEG Councilmay be the best way for members to be representedaccurately.

The chairman of the Constitution and BylawsCommittee would like to thank fellow members BillBarkhouse and Jack Kruppenbach for their service. All themembers of the committee would like to thank the SEGstaff for excellent advice and support. For the last severalyears, the Constitution and Bylaws Committee has had ameeting in conjunction with the SEG Annual Meeting, andwe would like to invite members to come by to expressany concerns.

Continuing EducationRod Cotton, chairmanJoseph Mills, vice chairman

This last year has been a difficult one for both industryand business, and the geophysical industry has sufferedas much, if not more, than most. Many companies havedownsized their workforces and even exited someregions where their presence had been traditionallystrong. Naturally, there has been a corresponding nega-tive effect on CE course attendance, with fewer coursesattracting enough attendees to be viable, and attendancegenerally down overall. This also led to a problem whencourses were canceled after the instructors had madeearly purchases of airfares to reduce travel costs. Thislack of communication is easily fixed. The low pointcame early in the year when two courses scheduled forHouston were canceled with registrations of one andthree persons, respectively. Fortunately, we now seemto have turned the corner. The recent SEG EducationWeek in Houston was quite successful. Three out of thefour courses planned were held, with attendance in the15–20 range for each.

The changing demographics of the SEG membership,as reported by Walt Lynn during his presidency, have avery significant effect on the future of continuing edu-cation. Walt reported that about 90% of members in the60+ age group resided in the United States, whereas two-thirds of this very youngest age group, members in the25–30 group, had overseas residency.

Because it is the mission of a professional society toserve its members and the mission of the ContinuingEducation Committee to serve the education needs of

the members, the Society must develop more effectivemeans of supplying the young overseas-based geophysi-cist with relevant courses. Offering courses in Houston,Texas, is not the answer to this problem because fewyoung Chinese or Indian geophysicists can afford thecost of the trip. Also, since September 11, 2001, visarestrictions hamper young foreign visitors. We couldplace many more courses in China, India, Southeast Asia,West Africa, and South America, but there are still severelimitations because of the additional cost and availabilityof the instructors for more and longer trips.

Once again, we turn to distance learning (DL) for asolution. Initially, we examined DL proposals becausethey were there; we now examine them because theyare a necessity. Unfortunately, DL is a broad topic withmany facets, each with its range of advantages and draw-backs. DL can be as simple as a PowerPoint presentationwith accompanying audio on a CD. It can move beyondthat to a more interactive presentation using video aswell as still slides and drawings. A course can be locatedon a server and delivered to the participant on demand,and it can be delivered live over the Internet, giving theparticipant the opportunity to interact with the instructor.

There are two downsides to these various options. Oneis cost. The more sophisticated the program, the higherthe production cost. Another problem is the performancelevel of the recipient’s computer. This chairman has expe-rienced frustration when an otherwise excellent trainingprogram refused to open because of some internal conflicton the recipient PC. We are very likely to find less sophis-ticated computers in faraway lands. Nevertheless, DL willfind a place in SEG’s resources. Mike Schoenberger and JoeMills are investigating ways of building a DL program onseismic data processing.

In addition, at the suggestion of Walt Lynn, the CECommittee launched a live program over the Internet.This was definitely a beta test, if not an alpha test. Thebandwidth was not available to accommodate a largeaudience, so the test was restricted to members of theSEG Executive Committee, Mary Fleming, and BillUnderwood of the Tulsa staff. The media center atHouston Baptist University donated the space, time, andtechnical support, and the program, presented by DonHerron, flowed without a hitch. We learned that amplebandwidth could be leased for about $2000 for a one-time presentation, or we could have open access forabout $18 000 per annum. Peter Duncan’s ISP “wentdown” as the program started for the duration of thebroadcast. No doubt that will always be one of the risks.Resolution was less than desired because of bandwidthlimitations, and this affected some of the fine detail onseismic sections. However, the technique clearly isviable, and a business model could be developed to useit. Such live broadcasts can be partially interactive via e-mail, and the program could be recorded and placed ona server for subsequent access by participants in distanttime zones.


The DISC program for 2003, Geostatistics for SeismicData Integration in Earth Models, is being presentedby Olivier Dubrule in 17 locations worldwide.

There will also be changes to the CE Committee com-mencing at the Dallas Annual Meeting. With retirement onmy doorstep, I have opted to relinquish the position ofcommittee chairman, although I will remain a committeemember and assist in any way I can. Frank Brown haskindly accepted the invitation to take over as chairman.This leaves the position of chairman of the DISC subcom-mittee open. In addition, Joe Mills will relinquish his vicechair position to concentrate on course development.

I particularly wish to thank all the members of the CECommittee for their efforts throughout this difficult year,and also I would like to include in this acknowledgmentthe Tulsa staff, particularly Mary Fleming, Bill Underwood,and Meta Peters, for their continued support.

Development and ProductionMichael Wilt, chairman

The Development and Production Committee has anevent-filled annual cycle. We sponsor a summer forum, aworkshop and luncheon at the Annual Meeting, and anannual special section in THE LEADING EDGE, to which ourmembers are primary contributors. In addition, we areinvolved in occasional publications such as the reservoirgeophysics book described below.

The summer 2003 forum was held July 20–25 in BigSky, Montana. The chairman was Ashley Francis fromEarthworks and the title was Old Oil, New Geophysics:Rejuvenating and Extending Field Life. The forum,attended by 35 delegates, lasted for three days ratherthan the usual five, because of the low attendance.

During the forum, we had an open discussion relatingto low attendance. The reasons were variously proposedas industry consolidation and cost cutting, the highexpense of the forum, and various factors related toadvertising and communication within the technicalcommunity. To address this issue, we decided thatfuture forums should be focused more tightly andattempt to address timely issues. When the D&PCommittee started to sponsor an annual forum in 1991,few geophysicists considered themselves involved indevelopment or production. Now, 12 years later, mostpetroleum geophysicists are involved in those aspects ofthe industry to one degree or another.

In spite of the low attendance, the 2003 forum wasquite successful technically. There was increased oppor-tunity for more participation and an atmosphere of moreopen discussion and informal sharing of technical data.Outstanding papers were presented; many will bepresented at the Annual Meeting workshop and in theannual TLE special section.

As usual, the SEG 2003 Annual Meeting will featureD&P events. There will be an open committee meetingon Monday, a D&P luncheon, a postconvention work-shop, and technical sessions dedicated to D&P topics.Again, the workshop will feature highlights from thesummer forum.

An update to the very popular SEG publicationReservoir Geophysics is in preparation. Clearly, the D&Ptechnology has changed markedly in the 10 years sincethe first volume, edited by Bob Sheriff, and thesechanges will be reflected in this new publication. EditorDave Johnston and his team of volunteer chapter editorsare selecting articles from the literature, but there is alsospace for original articles. We expect completion of thisbook within the next year.

Finally, my three-year term as D&P Committee chair iscoming to an end. The new chair will be RogerTurpening of Michigan Technological University inHoughton. Roger, who is a long-term committee mem-ber and has participated in many forums, brings a greatdeal of experience and familiarity to the job.

Distinguished LectureBob A. Hardage, chairman

The Fall 2002 SEG/AAPG Distinguished Lecturer wasJerry Harris. His lecture was titled Crosswell SeismicProfiling: The Decade Ahead. His tour was organized bySEG. The next joint SEG/AAPG lecture tour, in the fall of2003, will be organized by AAPG because these dutiesalternate between the two societies from year to year.

Arthur Weglein served as the Spring 2003 DistinguishedLecturer. His lecture, A Perspective on the Evolution ofProcessing Seismic Primaries and Multiples for aComplex Multidimensional Earth, was favorably receivedat 24 sections/associated societies in North America,Australia, and Europe.

The Fall 2003 joint SEG/AAPG Distinguished Lectureseries will be presented by Steve May. The title of hislecture is Visualization and Volume Interpretation inGeoscience: 3D Seismic and Beyond. There are plans tomake this presentation at numerous venues across North America.

The Spring 2004 Distinguished Lecturer will beWilliam Abriel of ChevronTexaco.

Mike Powers, Technical Program chairman for theSEG 2002 Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, will begin toserve as Distinguished Lecture Committee chairman atthe end of the SEG 2003 Annual Meeting in October. BobHardage will continue to serve on the DistinguishedLecture Committee until the close of the Annual Meetingin 2006.


ExhibitorsKim Hardesty, chairman

The Exhibitors Committee was created several yearsago as a voice for all exhibitors, both large and small, torelay their concerns to the SEG leadership at the AnnualMeeting. The committee chairman and members areavailable throughout the year to aid exhibitors withquestions regarding exhibiting at SEG’s Annual Meeting.SEG has also provided the committee with a “Help Desk”that will be on-site during booth setup so volunteersfrom the committee can assist exhibitors with questionsor problems. In addition, the committee will meet withmost exhibitors one on one. Our goal as a committee isto respond quickly if our exhibitors need assistance dur-ing the show.

Committee members are Denise Burke, CarmenComis, Kim Hardesty, Liz Ivie, Maureen Iglesias,Michelle Kluge, and Nina Redl. Our goal as theExhibitors Committee is to obtain new volunteers tocontinue the creative process. Our charge is to establishnew and innovative criteria for others to ensure the suc-cess of future SEG Annual Meetings.

Few issues were raised during the exhibitors’ luncheonat the SEG 2002 Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City. One ofthe common issues included the type size on the nametags. This issue has been addressed and will be correctedfor the SEG 2003 Annual Meeting. The other commonissue raised was not necessarily appropriate for theExhibitors Committee to handle. However, it was request-ed that the different associations, AAPG, SEG, and SPE,etc., create either a combined show or back-to-back showsat the same location. This issue is something the executivedirectors of the associations are discussing and is out of ourcontrol. Steve Emery, of the SEG Business Office, reviewedand satisfactorily answered questions about other issuesraised during the exhibitors’ luncheon in Salt Lake City.

As of July, Steve Emery has estimated that 875 boothshave been sold, with more inquiries coming in fromprospective exhibitors.

Exhibitor representatives and the SEG Business Officehave a close working relationship that ensures a success-ful exhibition and one that will continue the standard of excellence established at past annual meetings. It hastruly been my pleasure to work with the SEG MeetingsDepartment and members of the Steering Committee.Along with my committee, I look forward to a very suc-cessful 2003 Annual Meeting in Dallas.

SEG FoundationRichard A. Baile, chairmanL. C. (Lee) Lawyer, vice chairmanGene W. Sparkman, treasurer

The Foundation Board of Directors met October 7,2002, February 11, 2002, and April 26, 2003. In addition,the Executive Committee of the Foundation, comprisingthe chairman, vice chairman, and treasurer, met monthlyto discuss finances, policies, and programs of theFoundation.

During the year, emphasis was placed on endowmentcontributions for various programs, particularly theDistinguished Instructor Short Course (DISC) program.An ad hoc committee was appointed to develop a planto complement and support the Trustee Associates’team effort directed toward increasing solicitation forfunding of Foundation projects and building its corpus.

Total liabilities and net assets of the SEG Foundationat year-end 2002 were $7 521 246, down $909 668from the previous year. This disappointing news resultedfrom reduced earnings of the Foundation’s investmentportfolio, coupled with a similar reduction in contribu-tions. We are pleased to announce that as of this writing,investment proceeds have improved and current netassets are $7 907 946. We hope it is the beginning of anew trend.

Following is a summary of board actions during the year:

• approved the 2003 fiscal year budget• amended Foundation Bylaws to reclassify retiring

members of the board of directors as emeritus direc-tors

• approved a new project accounting process designedto provide detailed financial tracking of major projects of the Foundation

• approved $35 500 in support of the following projectproposals for 2003: field geophysics at ColoradoSchool of Mines; SAGE (Summer of Applied Geo-physics and Engineering); Jason project; PCs for stu-dent sections; seismic Unix; and teacher material andvolunteer training for earthquake seismology

• approved amending the asset allocation and portfoliomanagement policy to increase the spending limita-tion from 5% to 10%, not to exceed $700 000, for2003. The policy is to be reviewed by the board annu-ally. The purpose is to provide adequate funding for aprofessional fund-raiser, yet to be hired.

• established policy for assigning securities and pro-cessing gifts to be added to the Foundation Policy andProcedures manual

• approved the addition of a director of developmentposition in the Foundation office, whose primary


responsibilities will be fund-raising and developingfund-raising campaigns

• approved revised guidelines for sponsored scholar-ships to allow the Scholarship Committee to selectsuitable candidates based on standard criteria whenno applicants fit additional specific eligibility require-ments established by the donor

• supported a land-lease proposal for a proposed TulsaGeoscience and Engineering Museum (GEM), if a legaland reasonable document is construed

Work will begin in September on the Pathway fromthe Past to the Future—Geoscience Center BricksProgram. Fourteen hundred bricks will go into Phase I ofthe pathway. Eighty-six personalized bricks have been pur-chased by 76 individual contributors at $100 each. To date,contributions for multiple brick packages have been givenby 15 corporate contributors, two of which qualified forDouble Impact funds from the Foundation, along withthree individual contributors. In addition, two organiza-tions pooled individual contributions to qualify for theDouble Impact program. A total of $47 460 has been con-tributed to date, including Double Impact funds, towardendowment of the Geoscience Center. The center is animportant educational tool with many facets, including avirtual museum and traveling museum. Additional infor-mation concerning the Geoscience Center may beobtained in the Geoscience Center Committee reportfound elsewhere in this publication. Interested membersshould contact Susan Henley, Geoscience Center coordi-nator, at (918) 497-5566 or [email protected].

The board of directors thanks all who have con-tributed time and talent to further the goals of theFoundation programs.

SEG Foundation Trustee AssociatesSam L. Evans, chairman

The steering committee for the SEG FoundationTrustee Associates is an integral part of the SEGFoundation and functions under the auspices of the boardof directors. The group provides many functions and ser-vices within the Foundation but mainly serves in an advi-sory and assistance capacity to the Foundation Board ofDirectors. As the primary fund-raising component of theSEG Foundation, the committee has general executivecontrol and management of the affairs of the organization,supervision of the election of officers, and coordinationwith the Executive Committee and SEG staff.

Because of the unexpected death of Hugh Hardy, thecommittee lost its chairman early in 2003. Hardy was acharter trustee associate and an energetic and dedicatedleader and worker. His long association with the SEGFoundation was but one of many volunteer functions towhich he gave willingly of his time, gifts, and guidance.His wise counsel and leadership will be missed.

The Executive Committee, at its annual meeting inMonterey, California, in April, appointed Sam Evans tocomplete Hardy’s term. Evans was subsequently electedchairman for the 2003–2004 term.

The Steering Committee members who served duringthis report period and their respective duties included:

Hugh W. Hardy chairmanL. C. (Lee) Lawyer past chairmanSam L. Evans chairman-electGary M. Hoover secretaryRobert (Bob) J. Graebner treasurerGary G. Servos vice chairman, scholarshipsLouis I. Schneider Jr. vice chairman, fund-raisingRodney L. Cottrell vice chairman, fund-raisingCharles B. Smith Jr. vice chairman, fund-raisingMichael (Mike) C. Forrest vice chairman, fund-raising

In mid-2001, a special task force was formed to assesscurrent Foundation funding techniques, assign priorities toits many initiatives, and develop a strategic plan wherebythe Foundation’s premier educational support programswill become fully endowed within three years. Gary Servoswas given that leadership role. Bill French and I formed therest of the team. The board of directors was given the com-mittee’s report in August 2001. Approved recommenda-tions, strategies, and tactics include:

• hire and use a full-time professional to organize anddirect all Foundation fund activities

• concentrate near-term solicitation efforts on fewer gift-ing initiatives and those deemed most beneficial to thegeophysical industry, specifically the Scholarships andDistinguished Instructor Short Course (DISC) program

• organize and initiate campaigns to enlarge two historicand major sources of funds—individual and corporatemembership

• enlarge the corporate membership rolls, currentlymade up by oil and gas firms, geophysical service(contractor) organizations, and equipment andmaterials, to include equipment and service providersin computer equipment and services and otherpotential sources that eventually benefit fromFoundation grants

• improve the level and degree of liaison and informa-tion between the Foundation and local geophysicalsocieties whose contributions form a significantamount of funding and serve as a potential source ofnew trustee associate members

The job search for a professional fund-raiser is inprogress, and several teams from trustee associate memberrolls have been formed to address the many tasks associat-ed with the additional initiatives set forth by the board ofdirectors. At the same meeting, the steering committeewas charged to devote attention to several areas wherespecific actions were in order. Those include:


• review and upgrade the corporate trustee associatemembership rolls and devise a plan for expansion

• expand trustee associate recruitment efforts by host-ing regional luncheon meetings, and use currentmembers as ambassadors to SEG sections to promotethe organization

• increase the number of trustee associates attendingthe Trustee Associates annual meetings

Special study groups were formed and actions onthese assignments are under way.

Activities and achievements by the SEG Foundationare the result of the volunteer participation of itsmembers in the form of personal gifts and manyintangible contributions. Their participation and supportof the Foundation’s activities are greatly appreciated,and thanks on behalf of the SEG Foundation SteeringCommittee are extended to all.

SEG Geoscience CenterGene W. Sparkman

The Geoscience Center at the Geophysical ResourceCenter in Tulsa provides geoscience education for K-12students, the general public, professional organizations,and SEG members. The other primary function is archiv-ing valuable instrumentation, photographs, and docu-ments relating to the history of geophysics from itsearliest days through current developments, includingthe contributions of the SEG community. The committeemeets at the SEG Annual Meeting and twice a year at theGeoscience Center.

Expanding the functions of the SEG Museum to includean educational outreach resulted in the creation of theGeoscience Center. It includes improved exhibits thatshow key elements of exploration geophysics, its develop-ment, impact on producing energy, and hands-on demon-strations of technical principles, in an interesting educa-tional setting. Since the center officially opened in October2001, approximately 5045 people have visited the on-sitemuseum and more than 18 000 have seen the travelingmuseum. Attendance for the first six months of 2003includes 326 in self-guided tours, 1293 in group tours, and1550 traveling-museum attendees. Additional group tourshave been turned away because of insufficient staffing.

Susan Henley continues to provide energetic leader-ship for the Geoscience Center and has played a majorrole in its implementation.

Volunteers play an important role in the operations ofthe Geoscience Center; 900 hours were contributed inthe first six months of 2003.

Archival. SEG members, led by Guy Flanagan, areraising funds to acquire the Robert M. Iverson collectionof approximately 50 gravimeters. Their efforts will bematched by funds from the Foundation.

Donations to the center this year included 40 Years inSaudi Arabia, published by Geophysical Service Inc. in1978 (from Jack Proffitt); a print of the history of the petro-leum industry, published by PennWell, circa 1955 (from anSEG staff member); six boxed and labeled rock collections;seven posters (from S and S Scientific); and various smallcollections of fossils, rocks, and minerals (from TulsaGeological Society members).

The Smithsonian loan of exhibits, first negotiated in1991 by Craig Ferris and Robert M. Iverson, was renewedfor another three years, with the exception of two instru-ments needed for an upcoming Smithsonian exhibit.

Virtual Museum. The online Virtual Museum primarilyserves as an archive in which SEG members and thepublic can view pictures and read descriptions of thehistorical holdings of the physical museum. It alsoincludes an extensive online biographical library ofmany geophysicists who have made significant contribu-tions to SEG and to exploration geophysics.

John Knapp, longtime Geoscience Center Committeemember, has facilitated a move of the Virtual Museum tothe Missouri Southern State University server, with a linkfrom the SEG Web site. This takes pressure off of theSEG server and allows Knapp to better service the site.Knapp is updating the site with new templates andadding the SEG Geoscience Center kiosk presentationson acquisitions, developed by Bob Wyckoff; potentialfields, developed by Guy Flanagan; interpretation, devel-oped by Dennis Neff; and all the Karcher documents.

Plans are also under way to update the biographies toadd past presidents’ portraits, and to include images ofthe three large interpretive murals on seismic acquisi-tion, developed by members of the committee, now onthe walls of the Geoscience Center. These representdesert VSP, swamp acquisition, and marine seismicacquisition. Knapp has plans to expand the “Did YouKnow” factoids with the aid of member contributionsand to install a Geo Time Line, with contributions fromJohn Stockwell, Chris Liner, and others.

Educational Programs. The Geoscience Center con-tinues to develop new and innovative programming andhands-on activities to bring geoscience education to K-12 students. Educational initiatives have been passedon through several teacher workshops conducted byHenley. At the request of the Department of Education,the Geoscience Center was a featured presenter of earth-science materials to teachers at the SPE/DOE 13thInternational Oil Recovery Symposium. The center willbe a presenter at the teacher workshop at the upcomingAAPG Mid-Continent Section Meeting in Tulsa, alongsidea DOE presenter from Washington, D.C., and a presen-tation by the Oklahoma Geological Survey.

Geoscience Center packets were distributed from theGeoscience Center booth at the Green Country ScienceTeachers Workshop to more than 500 teachers. These



materials have also been mailed to SEG section membersand to other interested organizations outside Oklahoma.

The second anniversary of the center’s opening, dur-ing Earth Science Week in October, was celebrated, withspecial exhibits loaned by the Tulsa Rock and MineralSociety and Tulsa City-County Library System.

The Geoscience Center is currently in the middle of athree-year partnership with the Oklahoma EnergyResources Board (OERB). It is a source of printed mate-rials, trained Petro Pals presenters, and free field-tripfunds for teachers trained in the OERB curriculum tobring their classes to the Geoscience Center. There is noadmission charge to attend the Geoscience Center, andthe cost of the bus transportation is paid for by OERB.

The first docent-training workshop hosted by theGeoscience Center is planned for October 2003. Trainingmaterials will include outlines and scripts of all hands-onactivities, as well as glossaries, time lines, maps, tables,work sheets, and helpful Web sites. A trained docent willman all activity stations, and ongoing demonstrations willbe held.

The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America geosciencemerit badge programs have been expanded, and theGeoscience Center was invited recently to join the DOE-initiated Women’s Oil and Gas Advisory Group, “whoseaims are to articulate mutual goals and objectives betweenthe Department of Energy, oil and gas industry, and GirlScouts of the USA.”

Volunteer support of the center has grown substantial-ly, with increasing partnerships forged by presentations toprofessional organizations. The docent base now includesmembers of the Geophysical Society of Tulsa, TulsaGeological Society, the Desk and Derrick local chapter,employees of the NPTO, DOE in Tulsa, Samson Resources,University of Oklahoma School of Petroleum andGeological Engineering, Oklahoma Department of Mines,Oklahoma Geological Survey, Tulsa EngineeringFoundation, Tulsa Rock and Mineral Society, and manyindependent energy-related companies.

Outreach Programs. The Geoscience Center has com-pleted an enhancement of the geophysical exhibit at theOffshore Energy Center in Galveston, Texas. Last yearthe center installed a mural showing a simplified demon-stration of offshore seismic acquisition.

The Geoscience Center has made a substantial commit-ment to the Oklahoma Museum of History. After three sitevisits by OMH curators to the Geoscience Center dating toDecember 2000, the Oklahoma Museum of History wasgiven a temporary loan of several duplicate instrumentsthat were key in depicting the history of the petroleumindustry in Oklahoma. These will be in the museum’s new400 000-square-foot facility, to be renamed OklahomaHistory Center and to open in fall 2005.

The Geoscience Center has also provided copies of allits original Karcher documents, seismic records, photo-graphs, and notebooks for a significant exhibit planned,

as well as a copy of the SEG Seismitarium 3D imaging“movie” developed and narrated by Dennis Neff to use inthe same exhibit area. They are considering whether toinstall an exhibit similar to the Geoscience Center LenaSeis exhibit created by Chris Liner.

Educational Outreach Traveling Museum events haveincluded Kids World, a four-day event with an attendanceof 24 000 (This involved more than 50 volunteers and aMertz vibrator truck, provided by Charles Wickstrom ofCeja Corporation); Tulsa Rock and Mineral Show, (athree-day event with an attendance of 7000); EnergyDays in Bartlesville (the third year to participate in thisfive-day event with 1200 fifth-graders); Tulsa EngineeringChallenge (the third year to participate, with an atten-dance of 1000); and a Library Summer Reading Programpresentation outside Tulsa County in July 2003.

The Geoscience Center also extended its outreach tothe SEG 2002 Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City by con-ducting minitours of the Geoscience Center Museumbooth for teachers and students attending the RobertBallard lecture and for SEG spouses.

Grants, Gifts, and Endowment. With the assistance of committee member Charles Wickstrom of CejaCorporation, the Geoscience Center applied successfullyto the Cuesta Foundation and received funds to updatethe critical lighting situation in the auditorium, whichdoubles as the hands-on activities classroom.

In addition, the center has received two cash dona-tions from visitors, the Desk and Derrick Club andSouthern Hills Country Club, which have led to a com-mittee evaluation of whether to install a donation box.

The SEG Bricks for Geoscience program for the endow-ment of the Geoscience Center is ongoing. All bricks soldbefore September 2003 will be installed prior to the SEG2003 Annual Meeting in Dallas. The GeoscienceCommittee will continue to work with the SEGFoundation as it explores opportunities for funding withinthe local communities that have a society presence.

Promotional. Geoscience Center administrator SusanHenley made several promotional presentations on behalfof SEG and the Geoscience Center this year, to theGeophysical Society of Tulsa and to Tulsa GeologicalSociety, accompanied by Bill Underwood, GeoscienceEducation manager. Henley also gave presentations to theDesk and Derrick Club and to the Tulsa Engineering Foun-dation. These were efforts to acquaint the professionalcommunity with the mission of the Geoscience Centerand to solicit volunteers and donations. Two articles werepublished in the Tulsa World regarding GeoscienceCenter programs, and a short piece was featured on thelocal NBC affiliate in June 2003.

Geoscience Center AwardsAnnual Distinguished Volunteer Award

2001 Bob Wyckoff


2002 Guy Flanagan2003 Marvin R. Hewitt

Craig Ferris received an award at the GeoscienceCenter opening in October 2001 for his contributionsto the geophysical profession and for establishing theSEG Museum.

Gary Hoover will be recognized at the SEG 2003Annual Meeting for leadership in directing theGeoscience Center Committee.

The Geoscience Center is providing a substantialbenefit to our membership and to the Tulsa community.The center is an example of how we can expand theeducational and promotional benefits to communitiesaround the world where our profession has a presence.It will take joint efforts of our members and sections andtheir communities to make these projects successful.

Global AffairsShane Coperude, chairmanMariangela Capello, vice chairman

The Global Affairs Committee (GAC) is assisting SEGin becoming a truly global organization. The GAC pro-motes SEG activities worldwide and assists members incountries mainly outside the United States, although theGAC also has a United States representative.

The GAC consists of approximately 140 membersdivided among nine regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, formerSoviet Union, Latin America, the Middle East, the Pacific,the United States, and Canada. Each region has tworegional coordinators appointed to serve as representa-tives at GAC functions. In addition, approximately 40countries have representatives appointed to representthe GAC within the particular country.

The GAC has its own Web site to disseminate infor-mation. Its membership is open to any SEG memberinterested in global affairs. The GAC has two meetingsannually—at the SEG Annual Meeting and about sixmonths later. The committee helps to promote SEGinternational conferences and workshops, including therecommendation of SEG members to serve on technicalcommittees of global conferences and workshops. Thisyear, the GAC chairman was invited to participate in thead hoc Global Strategy Committee formed by theExecutive Committee.

PCs for student sections. One way in which the GAChas helped students in less developed countries is bydonating PCs to universities that have SEG student sec-tions. So far, the GAC has donated PCs to Vietnam,Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, and Nigeria. The funds

are provided by the SEG Foundation. This has been asuccessful program, generating good publicity for SEG.

Global membership program. The GAC strongly sup-ports the global membership category, which providesmembership for geophysicists in less developed coun-tries who otherwise might not be able to afford it.Apache Corporation is generously supporting this pro-gram by paying dues for the global members at this time.To date, we have 889 global members.

The demographics of SEG show that the growth area is international. SEG must be ready for growth in thisarea, and the GAC provides a means of preparing for this.

Gravity and MagneticsGuy Flanagan, chairmanAlan Herring, vice chairman

The Gravity and Magnetics Committee’s objective isto serve as a focus for activities within the Society deal-ing with gravity and magnetics and to promote andexpand the knowledge and use of gravity and magneticmethods. The committee meets twice yearly, once atmidyear and again at the Annual Meeting.

The 2002 Annual Meeting was extremely successful,with three technical sessions devoted to gravity and mag-netics as well as several other sessions with gravity andmagnetic-related papers. In addition, we had a successfulpostconvention workshop, Noise Sources in GravityData, thanks to the efforts of Mark Ander.

For the 2003 Annual Meeting, we expect to have twosessions devoted to gravity and magnetics as well as ourusual Tuesday luncheon, which will feature JohnWarme, of the Colorado School of Mines, speaking onimpact craters. In addition, a postconvention workshopon Enhanced Seismic Imaging and InterpretationUsing Gravity and Magnetics is being organized byHarold Yarger of ChevronTexaco, and it should prove tobe educational and enlightening. A capstone to what wehope is a highly successful Annual Meeting will be theawarding of Honorary Membership in SEG to one of ourown, Richard Hansen. It is especially pleasing to seeRichard’s contributions—to SEG, as a former editor ofGEOPHYSICS, and as mentor to many students—honored inthis way.

Our committee continues to be highly involved insupplying input to THE LEADING EDGE in the form of boththe “Meter Reader” column, currently coordinated byJohn Peirce, and special issues. Pat Millegan and TikuRavat have just completed preparation of a special issueon geophysics in space, which was published in August.Alan Reid has agreed to be editor for a CD volume ongravity and magnetics to be published by SEG.


Michal Ruder has continued to head up our efforts incontinuing education, along with her duties on theExecutive Committee, by presenting her highly success-ful short course in several locations throughout the year.

I was pleased with the opportunity afforded by theExecutive Committee members to make a presentation tothem at their midyear meeting to discuss the role,successes, and concerns of the Gravity and MagneticsCommittee. A particular concern is the difficulty presentedby convention locations such as Salt Lake City and Calgaryfor the generally small gravity and magnetic contractors.With cuts in exploration budgets and mergers limiting theattendees, it is difficult to justify exhibiting at these meet-ings. It was good to see that the Executive Committee iskeenly aware of this issue, which extends beyond thebounds of the gravity and magnetics community.

Honors and AwardsRutt Bridges, chairman

One of the most important functions of a profession-al society is honoring those who have made importantcontributions to the profession and to science. By unan-imous agreement of the Honors and Awards Committeeand the Executive Committee, the 2003 honorees are:

Maurice Ewing Medal: Augustinus (Guus) J. Berkhoutfor his significant contributions to exploration geophysicsand acoustics. Among other achievements, Guus beganthe industry-supported Delphi project at Delft University24 years ago, a project that is still going strong.

Honorary Membership: Mike Graul for his deepinvolvement in continuing education for geophysicists.Mike’s courses in deconvolution, AVO, and static cor-rections, all developed for SEG, are still presented regu-larly through SEG’s Continuing Education program.

Richard O. Hansen for his distinguished contributionsto exploration geophysics in the areas of research anddevelopment in gravity and magnetics methods.

Ian G. Jack for his numerous contributions to geo-physics and to the Society. Ian served as SEG’s first dis-tinguished instructor, and his published notes remain animportant tutorial reference.

Virgil Kauffman Gold Medal: Gregory A. Partyka for his work on the development of the spectraldecomposition technique for reservoir characterization.This technique has been implemented by numerous seis-mic contractors and has led to improved interpretationon many plays throughout the world.

Cecil Green Enterprise Award: Paul van Riel for hisvision, determination, and geophysical and management

skills in starting and growing Jason Geosystems, anindustry leader in inversion and reservoir characteriza-tion technology.

Reginald Fessenden Award: Kurt-Martin Strack for histechnical contributions in borehole geophysics. Kurtwas instrumental in the development and implementa-tion of through casing resistivity (TCR) and 3D inductionlogging.

J. Clarence Karcher Award: Edward Jenner for hiscontributions to the technology of exploration geo-physics in the area of azimuthal 3D seismic processing,with emphasis on the relationships of azimuthal variationsof AVO attributes and velocity to reservoir properties.

Life Membership: Bob A. Hardage for his exemplarylongtime service to the Society as SEG editor, TechnicalProgram chairman for the SEG 2001 Annual Meeting in SanAntonio, chairman of various committees, author, andcoeditor of the SEG publication 3-D Seismic Exploration.

Gene W. Sparkman for his significant service to theSociety as SEG secretary-treasurer, chairman of the SEGFoundation Trustee Associates (three terms), treasurerof the SEG Foundation Board of Directors, chairman ofTHE LEADING EDGE Editorial Board, and chairman of theFinance and Scholarship committees.

Simon Spitz for his longtime involvement with the SEGand EAGE Research committees in organizing numerousSEG/EAGE research workshops around the world, andongoing efforts to foster cooperation between SEG andEAGE.

Special Commendation Award: Jaime Jaramillo, anexploration geophysicist, for his tireless efforts increating a social conscience regarding abandoned anddiscarded children who live in the streets and sewers ofcities. He was recipient of the Peace and Justice Award,one year after Mother Teresa was so honored, and anominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Distinguished Achievement Award: CREWES Project,University of Calgary, an applied geophysical researchgroup concentrating on acquisition, analysis, and inter-pretation of multicomponent seismic data. Working withindustry partners, the students and professors in the con-sortium conduct advanced research in resource explo-ration and development to obtain improved 3D geologicimages of the subsurface.

Best Paper in GEOPHYSICS 2002:Characterization of fluid transport properties of reser-voirs using induced microseismicitySerge A. Shapiro, Elmar Rothert, Volker Rath, and JanRindschwentner


Honorable Mentions (GEOPHYSICS):PP + PSS = SSVladimir Grechka and Ilya Tsvankin

Seismic modelingJosé M. Carcione, Gérard C. Herman, and A. P. E. tenKroode

Seismic anisotropy in sedimentary rocks, part 1: A sin-gle-plug laboratory methodZhijing Wang

A new approach to offshore drill-bit reverse verticalseismic profiling (RVSP)Flavio Poletto and Giuliano Dordolo

Best Paper in THE LEADING EDGE 2002:Interactive seismic facies classification using texturalattributes and neural networksBrian P. West, Steven R. May, John Eastwood, andChristine Rossen

Honorable Mention (TLE):Integrated seismic and subsurface characterization ofBonga Field, offshore NigeriaMark Chapin, Peter Swinburn, Raphic van derWeiden, Dieter Skaloud, Sola Adesanya, DavidStevens, Chris Varley, Jacob Wilkie, Eric Brentjens,and Martijn Blaauw

Best Paper Presented at the 2002 Annual Meeting:Atomic meshing of seismic imagesDave Hale and Jeff Emanuel

Honorable Mention (Best Paper):Removing distortions caused by water velocity varia-tions: Method for dynamic correctionScott MacKay and Jonathan Fried

Best Poster Paper Presented at the 2002 AnnualMeeting:3D multiarrival Kirchhoff versus wave equation migration: Application to the 3D SEG/EAGE Salt ModelBertrand Duquet, Sheng Xu, and Gilles Lambaré

Honorable Mention (Best Poster Paper):Reinterpretation of the Sembakung oil field,Kalimantan, Indonesia, utilizing modern 3D seismicdataRick Walia and Tony Edwards

Best Student Paper Presented at the 2002 AnnualMeeting:Pressure-transient experiments and the elastic character-ization of fracturesReynaldo Cardona

Award of Merit (Best Student Paper):Analysis of high-resolution aeromagnetic anomaliesfrom the south-central Alberta Foothills, CanadaChristian I. Abaco

Best Student Poster Paper Presented at the 2002Annual Meeting:A preliminary study of salt flank illumination at VintonDome, Louisiana: Do we need lateral wavefield continua-tion?Cory J. Hoelting

Award of Merit (Best Student Poster Paper):The kernel trick: Using linear algorithms to solvenonlinear geophysical problemsHeidi Kuzma

On behalf of the Honors and Awards Committee, Icongratulate the distinguished recipients and thankthem for their contributions. The Honors and Awardsprocess succeeds by receiving nominations from indi-vidual SEG members, SEG committees, and SEG sectionsand associated societies. We thank all who submittednominations for the 2003 awards and who providedsupporting letters and other documentation. FutureHonors and Awards committees will retain nominationsfor those who were not selected for consideration.

The Honors and Awards Committee comprises the pastfive SEG presidents: Rutt Bridges, Brian Russell, BillBarkhouse, Sally Zinke, and Walt Lynn. I thank my col-leagues for their diligent and thoughtful efforts in research-ing and considering the nominations for SEG’s awards—aprocess that has consumed many hours of their time in2002–2003. One very rewarding outcome of this processis the renaming of the Enterprise Award, now known asthe Cecil Green Enterprise Award, in honor of one of ourSociety’s most distinguished pioneers who, in our unani-mous opinion, epitomizes the entrepreneurial spirit cele-brated by this award.

Chairing this committee concludes my presidentialobligations to SEG, and I sincerely appreciate the oppor-tunity to have served SEG during the past seven years.

InterpretationChris Thompson, chairman

The SEG Interpretation Committee convenes twiceeach year with its sister committee, the AmericanAssociation of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) GeophysicalIntegration Committee (GIC)—once at the SEG AnnualMeeting and once at AAPG’s convention—to exchangeideas, plan projects, and pursue mutual interests.Additional meetings can be called by the chairman todiscuss special events and urgent needs. The role of the


Interpretation Committee (IC) is to enthusiasticallyadvance and expand the methods, technologies, and toolsto improve interpretation quality and to benefit the geo-logic and geophysical interpretation community. This hasbeen achieved by: (1) encouraging our members, inter-preters at large, and companies to publish their case his-tories in society journals and conventions; (2) promotingcontinuing education; and (3) organizing workshops. TheIC is aware of today’s competitive environment and wantsto be the sounding board for what interpreters want, theconduit for providing the services they need, and thecatalyst for making their jobs better and easier.

The committee is truly an integrated committee. Ourmembers come from many disciplines and practice skillsto face various challenges of exploration, evaluation, anddevelopment. Indeed, many members are in both SEGand AAPG and are on both committees. The IC is veryactive in helping its constituents. Fortunately, we havequite a few active members who publish papers andbooks, organize workshops during the annual conven-tions, and/or promote intersociety activities with theSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and the Society ofProfessional Well Log Analysts (SPWLA). In addition, weare always looking for new ideas and for people who arewilling to contribute their time and help.

The IC projects with AAPG GIC last year included:

Publications• Geologic Columns of THE LEADING EDGE, a compila-

tion of papers from the THE LEADING EDGE (1998 to2001), was copublished with AAPG.

• Pitfalls in Interpretation—This popular series of arti-cles is being assembled for easy accessibility on theWeb. Additional material is solicited; please contactHuw James at [email protected].

• Surface Exploration Case Histories: Applications ofGeochemistry, Magnetics, and Remote Sensing. Thisjoint SEG/AAPG project was published this past year.

• The Geophysical Corner, a regular article edited byAAPG-GIC chair Randy Ray, is published monthly in theAAPG Explorer. Additional articles are always welcome.

Workshops• Interpretation of AVO, Shear Waves, and Converted

Waves was the SEG-IC-sponsored workshop at theSEG 2002 Annual Meeting. There were 200 partici-pants and lively debate.

• Interest has been expressed in sponsoring additionalworkshops on The Future of Seismic Interpretation.

Education• Seismic Interpretation Study Set. Public and donated

seismic data have been collated and formatted for allmajor Unix and PC workstation platforms. Use ofthese data is free to colleges and universities for edu-cational purposes but is not available for oil compa-

nies. Interested organizations can contact either theSEG IC or AAPG GIC.

• Michigan Tech Interpretation Course. This is anintroductory course funded by the SEG Foundation,first offered in August 2001. University students whomay not have access to interpretation courses are themain potential participants.

Membership in the SEG Interpretation Committee isopen to anyone interested in active participation and dis-cussions with interpreters from all over the world, includ-ing professionals from universities, research institutions,and exploration and production companies. Please feelfree to contact me at [email protected] SEG IC looks forward to your participation.

MembershipBob Wyckoff, chairman

Membership as of June 30 was 18 749, whichincludes 59 corporate members. This is an overallincrease of 1157 in the past year. Significant increaseswere noted in both the global and student member cat-egories (703 and 625, respectively). Active membershipdecreased by 243 and associate membership increasedby 51. Figures included in this report display member-ship statistics in greater detail.

Apache Corporation is continuing its generous spon-sorship of global membership dues. Halliburton EnergyServices will continue for one more year to fund the SEGStudent Membership Corporate Sponsorship program.

New this year is the Member-Get-a-Member Cam-paign. With the timely and skillful contributions of theSEG staff, the campaign is well under way. It is designedto support the values of membership on an individuallevel. As the campaign progresses, expectations are formembership to increase and services provided to newmembers to be recognized as adding value to profes-sional careers. SEG sections will be encouraged toparticipate and provide a network to reach potentialmembers. We are encouraged by more than 300 referralsto date. Campaign information can be found athttp://membership.seg.org/mgam/index.shtml.

An interesting note this year is that members outsidethe United States represent 50% of the total membership.This brings global challenges that are being addressed bythe Executive Committee. The Membership Committeewill be an integral part of the equation to reach out glob-ally in the coming year to better serve our members.

Our sincere thanks go to the dedicated SEG staff, whichentered 3430 new and changed applications, responded toqueries from members, compiled membership statistics,and initiated the Member-Get-a-Member Campaign.


Figure 1.

Nu

mb

er o

f M

emb

ers

Total SEG Membership as of June 30, 1930–2003 (Current)

Year

25000

20000

15000

10000

5000

0

1930

1935

1940

1945

1950

1955

1960

1965

1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2003

1861263

47645816

9192

19559

14070

18749

Figure 2. Globalization of Membershipas of June 30, 2003

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%1985

1395110134

4570

8832

9399

7211

9291US %

Non-US %

1990 1995 2000 Current

5251

4986

9956


Mining and GeothermalDick West, chairmanMary Poulton, vice chairman

After two years of exemplary and enthusiastic leader-ship, Ken Witherly stepped down as chairman of thecommittee in October and I assumed that role, withMary Poulton becoming the new vice chairman. Themajor effort of the committee in 2002 was the planningand organization of the Mining and Geothermal techni-cal sessions for the SEG’s 2002 Annual Meeting in SaltLake City. Ken Witherly was the driving force behindthat effort, and he coordinated with the Gravity andMagnetics Committee to minimize time and content con-flicts between gravity and magnetics and mining andgeothermal sessions. This was our “mining summit”

meeting, which happens every other year, and partici-pation and attendance in the technical sessions by themining and geothermal community were very good, inkeeping with the mining tradition of Salt Lake City.There was a total of five mining, geothermal, resistivity,and electromagnetic technical sessions at the meeting,with 40 technical presentations ranging from case histo-ries and the application of new technologies to innova-tions in hardware and software. The committee promot-ed two workshops, the Ni-PGE Ore Deposit Seminar,organized by Joe Inman and Steve Balch, and theRedefining How Geophysics Adds Value in theMinerals Business: The Entrepreneurial Imperative,organized by Leigh Freeman, Terry McConnell, and KenWitherly, and supported Karen Christopherson’s shortcourse on MT for Natural Resources.

All of the workshops and the short course were wellattended, indicating the need for geophysicists to

Figure 4. Fiscal Year 2003 Membership

Associate40% (7480)

Active43% (8089)

Student10% (1896)

Global7% (1225)

Corporate0% (59)

Figure 5. Membership by Classification

22000

20000

18000

16000

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

TOTAL

ACTIVE

18690

X

8089

7480

1896

ASSOCIATE

STUDENTGLOBAL

1225


continually upgrade their skills and knowledge in thiscompetitive marketplace. Pat Cunneen gave an excellentpresentation on New Directions in Airborne Geophysicsat the Mining and Geothermal luncheon.

Alan King, former chairman of this committee, obtaineda generous donation of $10 000 from the SEG Foundationfor Science North, an experiential science center locatedin Sudbury, Ontario. The funds were used to assist in thecreation of interactive geophysical exhibits for the generalpublic. With the help of INCO volunteers, a treasure-hunt-ing theme for the exhibits was adopted, which has stimu-lated an interest in geophysics in young and old alike whovisit this popular Ontario attraction.

The committee was involved in the promotion andselection of two of our fellow professionals for recognitionby the Society for their significant contributions to theindustry. Gordon West was the recipient of the MauriceEwing Medal, SEG’s highest award, and Pat Cunneenreceived the Enterprise Award.

The committee’s list server, SEGMIN, is generouslyhosted by Geosoft and is a useful forum for our globalcommunity. Subscription to SEGMIN is accomplished bysending an e-mail to [email protected], with thephrase “subscribe segmin” within the body of the e-mailmessage.

The committee is aware of the dramatic drop inenrollment in mineral and geothermal programs at uni-versities around the world and the eventual deleteriousimpact this will have on the industry in the future.Consequently, we are interested in stimulating greaterstudent interest and providing students with a list offinancial aid resources available to them if they choose adegree in exploration geophysics. A scoping study for acommittee Web page is under way, and a safety resourcefor field personnel conducting ground geophysical sur-veys is being investigated.

Committee on NominationsWalt Lynn, chairman

The Committee on Nominations for this year includedSEG past presidents Walter (Walt) S. Lynn, chairman,Sally G. Zinke, and William (Bill) N. Barkhouse and rep-resentatives from four SEG sections: Frank F. Everett,Geophysical Society of Tulsa; Truong Minh, VietnamSociety of Exploration Geophysicists; Kairat Z. Sydykov,Russia; and Apurba Saha, India, Society of PetroleumGeophysicists. The committee received suggestions forpotential candidates from several SEG members. Aftermeeting at the SEG 2002 Annual Meeting in Salt LakeCity, the committee met via conference calls and e-mailto finalize a selection of candidates for SEG offices.Candidates were contacted and the following list ofnominations as candidates for the 2003–2004 ExecutiveCommittee was submitted for the ballot process:

President-elect Craig J. BeasleyDon W. Steeples

First vice president Philip (Phil) S. SchultzBrian R. Spies

Second vice president Dale E. BirdWilliam H. Green

Vice president Ivan de Araújo Simoes-FilhoLeon Thomsen

Secretary-treasurer Robert (Bob) M. Heaton Jr.Stephen (Steve) J. Hill

Editor Gerard T. Schuster

The Committee on Nominations also provides nomi-nations for district representatives to the SEG Council assuch positions become open. (Active members who arenot represented by sections are represented on the Coun-cil by district representatives from among 10 geographicdistricts corresponding to their mailing addresses.) Thisyear, there were 20 district representative vacancies,and the following candidates were contacted and agreedto run for election:

District 1:No vacancies this year

District 2:David A. Cunningham ColoradoGeoffrey Alan Dorn ColoradoJoseph Robert Inman Jr. UtahDeborah Rue Miles ColoradoEdward Lee Shuck ColoradoZhijing (Zee) Wang California

District 3:Jesus Antonio Bilbao TexasLuis L. Canales TexasJames Joseph Carazzone TexasArthur C.H. Cheng TexasDan Matthews Cox TexasPhilip Michael Fontana TexasAlan R. Huffman TexasGuy Winsor Purnell TexasJohn Brumfield Randolph TexasDonald Eugene Rice TexasH. Austin Von der Hoya II TexasDouglas (Doug) E. Wyatt Jr. West Virginia

District 4:Philip Towey PennsylvaniaZhenya Zhu Massachusetts


District 5:William A. Nickerson Canada

District 6:Hermes Aguirre MexicoJorge E. Estrada M. Argentina

District 7:Alan K. Faichney Scotland, U.K.Helmut Jakubowicz England, U.K.

District 8:Ozdogan Yilmaz Turkey

District 9:Panos G. Kelamis Saudi Arabia

District 10:Mazin Taji Farouki AustraliaYu-Quan Niu ChinaWenrong Xu China

I wish to thank all candidates for their willingness andrapid response during the nomination process. I alsothank the committee members for their thoughtful andactive participation.

Online Governing BoardJoe Dellinger, chairmanHenry Bland, vice chairman

The mission of the Online Governing Board has beento make good use of the computer communicationsrevolution to further SEG’s goals. Among these are toencourage, protect, and disseminate knowledge of ourscience, to facilitate the careers of SEG members, and toimprove SEG’s abilities to keep doing these things in thefuture. At the SEG 2003 Annual Meeting, Henry Blandwill take over as the chairman of the Online GoverningBoard from Joe Dellinger, who has served for the pastseveral years. With this change in leadership, it is anappropriate time to note some of our more significantaccomplishments from the last few years, and to specu-late where we should be going.

Several years ago, SEG made the cumulative index ofSEG publications freely available, instead of a productthat had to be purchased on CD. Our intent was to makeit as convenient as possible for authors to reference SEGpublications. The hope was that authors would thenpreferentially reference SEG publications, therebyincreasing the prestige of our journals. More recently,SEG introduced online submission and review of bothSEG abstracts and GEOPHYSICS papers, with the primaryaim of reducing the time consumed by the reviewprocess, again improving the quality of our journals. It

was also hoped that the effort required by the SEG staffto track papers as they move through the system couldbe streamlined. Making online reviewing of GEOPHYSICS

papers possible required considerable effort on SEG’spart, because none of the products commercially avail-able at the time was suitable.

A little more than a year ago, SEG archived GEOPHYSICS

online at the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Website. This was a major decision, one to which due dili-gence was given. The physics community invented theprotocols on which the World Wide Web is based, andremains a leading force driving the use of the Internet toshare scientific and technical information and ideas in anopen, collaborative environment. Because of their beinghosted on the AIP Web site, we expect that our journalsshould remain in the forefront as the Internet matures.Care was taken when negotiating the agreement toensure that the digital data remain the property of SEG,so that our future options remain flexible.

The complete archive of online journals is now acces-sible by any SEG member. SEG leadership felt that accessto the information in SEG journals should be a right ofmembership; it should not be limited just to those hav-ing access to a corporate or university library subscrip-tion. Getting SEG’s information resources online alsomade a new Internet-only class of membership viable:“World Membership.” This membership is inexpensivefor SEG to provide, and serves those in places where theInternet is available but sending hard copy through themail is problematic. Partly as a result of the surge in thenumber of members living outside the United States,SEG is expected to mark a new milestone sometime thiscoming year: Non-U.S. residents will comprise a majori-ty of membership. This shift in SEG’s membership is wel-come; it positions SEG for survival into the upcomingcentury as a viable organization.

This year, e-commerce capabilities were added to theSEG Web site, so that it is now possible for members torenew online, for example. The complete archive of SEGabstracts has recently been placed online. Once it isclear how to proceed, these will be fully integrated intoonline search mechanisms. Annual Meeting slide setswere archived online for the first time in 2002. Thisshould become standard practice in the future, althoughit is not yet clear what the best “archival” storage mech-anism for talk slides will be.

Questions about archival formats will no doubt con-tinue. Digital data is “fragile” in the sense that it requireslooking after as standards change and evolve. Althougheasier to copy, digital data is paradoxically also easier tolose. Looking to the future, we feel that SEG should con-tinue to make preservation of knowledge a priority. Ourcommittee is already starting a project to preserve con-sortia reports in digital form. In the future, we expectthis effort to extend to software as well.

Another goal of SEG is to make SEG members self-sufficient in their ability to keep current in the field. As


small oil companies and small technology providersbecome more and more important in our field, self-suffi-ciency of our membership will become vital. Making thejournals available to members was a good start on thisgoal, but it is only a start. SEG has already taken the firststeps toward offering courses online. We hope to dra-matically improve on that technology in the future.

We are still in the “Wild West” days of the Internet.We believe that SEG has made a good beginning atsettling the digital frontier and has managed to avoidthe big mistakes while doing so. Our committee canalways use new members with a vision. Please feel freeto join!

PublicationsChris Liner, chairman

The Publications Committee is responsible for work-ing with the SEG Publications staff to produce all specialpublications other than GEOPHYSICS and THE LEADING

EDGE. Our objective is to provide exploration geophysi-cists with the technical geophysical information theyrequire in their jobs or studies. This report summarizesbooks recently published and those which are to be pub-lished in the near future, and gives a financial summaryof revenues from publications.

Books published in fiscal year 2003: EncyclopedicDictionary of Applied Geophysics, Fourth Edition, withCD-ROM, by Robert E. Sheriff; Geologic Columns of THE

LEADING EDGE, edited by M. Ray Thomasson and L. C.(Lee) Lawyer (SEG/AAPG publication); Magnetotelluricsin the Context of Theory of Ill-Posed Problems, by MarkN. Berdichevsky and Vladimir I. Dmitriev; SurfaceExploration Case Histories: Applications of Geochem-istry, Magnetics, and Remote Sensing, edited byDietmar Schumacher and Leonard A. LeSchack (SEG/AAPG publication); 3-D Seismic Survey Design, withCD-ROM, by Gijs J. O. Vermeer; SEG/EAGE DISCGeostatistics for Seismic Data Integration in EarthModels, by Olivier Dubrule; Expanded AbstractsHistorical Series (archive of Technical ProgramExpanded Abstracts from 1982 to 2002 on CD-ROM);SEG Standards—SEG-UKOOA Ancillary DataStandards; GEOROM VIII Archive of GEOPHYSICS

(1936–2001); THE LEADING EDGE (1982–2001) CD-ROM;and the SEG/Salt Lake City 2002 Technical ProgramExpanded Abstracts.

Books expected to be published by SEG/Dallas2003 Annual Meeting: Hardrock Seismic Exploration,by volume editors David W. Eaton, Bernd Milkereit, andMatthew Salisbury; The Microtremor Survey Method, byHiroshi Okada, translations by Koya Suto, contributionsand foreword by volume editor Michael Asten; and

the SEG/Dallas 2003 Technical Program ExpandedAbstracts.

Publications director Ted Bakamjian reported thatReference Publications revenue for fiscal 2003 came upshy of expectations at $590 521. One reason was thelow attendance at SEG 2002 Annual Meeting in Salt LakeCity, where revenue was more than $60 000 below thehistorical Annual Meeting high of about $145 000 inHouston in 1999. Another reason is that although SEGpublished a new edition of its best-selling EncyclopedicDictionary, more than 2000 copies were distributed asan early-registration delegate benefit for the Salt LakeCity meeting, diminishing sales. Cost of sales was higherthan expected at $345 469, partly because of theEncyclopedic Dictionary promotion but also because ofinventory revaluation. Revenue was $37 183 less thanexpenses.

The Publications Committee consists of several dedi-cated individuals who generously donate their time andeffort. These committee members, along with editors,book authors, and SEG Publications staff, allow the pub-lication process to work efficiently. The series editorsinclude: Cynthia Menant Berlier, Slide Sets; Michael R.Cooper, Investigations in Geophysics; Dan Ebrom,Geophysics Reprints; David Fitterman, GeophysicalMonographs; Steve Hill, Geophysical Developments;Gene Scherrer, Geophysical References; Ilya Tsvankin,Translations Committee chairman; and Roger Young,Continuing Education Course Notes.

ResearchStewart A. Levin, chairman

The Research Committee (RC) currently has 85 mem-bers. Our 2002 fall committee meeting was held jointlywith the European Association of Geoscientists andEngineers (EAGE) at the SEG 2002 Annual Meeting in SaltLake City. Our 2003 winter meeting was held in Austin,Texas. A joint EAGE/SEG RC meeting was held during theEAGE 2003 meeting in Stavanger, Norway. Information onthe RC, minutes of committee meetings, workshop infor-mation, abstracts, and upcoming RC events can be foundat our Web site: http://seg.org/research/.

The committee also held these events:

• 2002 SEG/EAGE Summer Research Workshop, May 12–17, Galveston Island: Geopressure: ConceptualAdvances, Applications, and Future Challenges,chaired by Stan Lee, organized by Mark Alberty, KevinDodds, Nader Dutta, Jack Dvorkin, Tina Fitts, IngebretGausland, Stephan Gelinski, Hans Helle, Alan Huffman,and Kurt-Martin Strack; 90 attendees; abstracts andsome PowerPoint presentations on the RC Web site.


• 2002 SEG Salt Lake Postconvention Workshops: CO2Sequestration, organized by Simon Spitz, Larry Myer,and Rick Gibson; Advances and Limitations inNumerical Modeling of Wave Propagation inChallenging Structures, organized by Joakim Blanch,Arthur Cheng, Leigh House, Denis Schmitt, and JerrySchuster; Near Surface Problems and Solutions,organized by Xianhuai Zhu, Panos Kelamis, MichaelDeal, and Carlos Calderón; Passive Seismic Imaging,organized by Biondo Biondi, Leigh House, and KurtMarfurt; Innovations in Upscaling and Downscaling3D Petrophysical Properties, organized by Gopa De,Arthur Cheng, and Joe Stefani; Geophysical Appli-cations to Carbonate Reservoirs, organized byWenjie Dong, Ali Tura, and Gene Sparkman. YoramShoham and Tracy Stark organized the special sessionShowcase of Interpretation Workstations. TheRecent Advances and Road Ahead session wasorganized by Yoram Shoham and Simon Spitz.

• 2003 SEG Dallas Postconvention Workshops: Real-time Drilling Decisions, organized by Bill Dragoset,Gopa De, Dale Heysse, and Kurt-Martin Strack;Carbonate Rock Physics, organized by Shiyu Xu, AliTura, Enru Liu, Kurt Nihei, and Wenjie Dong; SyntheticSeismograms for Processed Seismic Data and forSeismic Field Data, organized by Milo M. Backus,Sergey Fomel, and Tracy Stark; Seismic Determinationof Pressure, Saturation, and Porosity, organized byMark Meadows and Wences Gouveia; AVO,Multicomponent, Either or Both?, organized by BillGoodway, Shuki Ronen, and Bob Tatham; Applicationsof 3D-VSPs to Reservoir Description and Monitoring,organized by Arthur Cheng; Time-lapse Rock Physics and Related Geomechanical Models andMeasurements, organized by Jim Robinson, MichaelSchoenberg, and Kurt Nihei. The Recent Advancesand Road Ahead session will be organized by StewartA. Levin and Doug Wyatt.

• 2003 SEG Summer Research Workshop, GalvestonIsland, August 24–29: Quantifying Uncertainty inReservoir Property Prediction, cochaired by FredAminzadeh and Reinaldo Michelena. Originallyplanned as the first SEG Summer Research workshopoutside North America, it was shifted to Galveston inthe aftermath of strikes and political uncertainty in Venezuela.

• 2003 EAGE/SEG Summer Research Workshop,Trieste, Italy, August 31–September 4: Processingand Imaging Seismic Data: The Velocity-dependentversus the Velocity-independent Approach, co-chaired by Biondo Biondi and Simon Spitz.

• 2004 SEG/EAGE Summer Research Workshop:Fractured Reservoirs, Including Characterization,Flow Measurements, Improved Permeability, etc.,organized by Michael Schoenberg, Arthur Cheng, andWenjie Dong. Further details are not yet available.

Other committee activities include the first remoteparticipant workshop voting at the Research Committeewinter meeting, in which workshop topics were bothsuggested and voted on by both RC members present inAustin and by about two dozen members who could notbe present but participated by e-mail. As a measure ofparticipation, one final workshop topic was both sug-gested remotely and carried to the final 2003 Dallas listbased on remote voting.

Another RC innovation is the recently formed RC-Hilbert discussion group. Its purpose is to brainstorm alist of significant geophysical problems to be solved inthe coming decades. The goal is to organize and influ-ence geophysical research and development in a mannersimilar to that of David Hilbert’s 1900 speech to theWorld Mathematical Congress which developed into alist of 23 problems that had enormous influence on math-ematical research in the past century. This is the firsttechnical discussion from the RC subcommittee devotedto promoting online discussion of research topics.

In addition, the current RC chairman has repaired andupdated most of the links on the RC Web site, which hadbeen partly corrupted during the general SEG Web siteupgrade in late 2002. Levin also represented SEG at anEarthScope workshop in Denver and has continued tointeract with EarthScope researchers, most recentlyvolunteering committee expertise in helping a group todesign a reflection seismic program in conjunction with a SAFOD experimental drilling site along the SanAndreas Fault.

• SEG/EAGE model data: A request was submitted tothe SEG Foundation for a grant to support the hous-ing and distribution of those data, which had previ-ously been delivered to the SEG Business Office. TheRC unanimously endorsed this request with a formalwritten letter, the only Foundation request which itchose to endorse. During the first half of 2003, com-putations proceeded on next-generation SEG/EAGEmodel data, both at the University of Houston and theNational Laboratories.

Finally, the RC wishes to thank Alyson Farmer andKristi Smith of the SEG staff for their energetic and pro-fessional assistance to this committee in helping to planworkshops and meetings.

ReviewsBill Green, chairman

The goals and modus operandi of the ReviewsCommittee continued in their well-established formsduring the past year. We review technical books to aidSEG members in keeping current with literature relatedto their professional activities, but we also include


occasional books of general interest to geoscientists. Thecommittee has members around the world, representingall aspects of geophysics as a profession. The commit-tee’s work is conducted almost exclusively by e-mail:Notices of available books are sent to potential review-ers, reviews are submitted to the reviews editor, and thecorrected drafts are forwarded to the SEG office for pub-lication in THE LEADING EDGE. The only manual process isto ship the books from the SEG office to the reviewers.

For the reporting period (June 2002–May 2003), thevisible effects of the committee’s work were as follows:29 book reviews appeared in print, by 22 authors fromseven countries. Of the 29 books, six had two opinionscontributed by different reviewers. The number ofreviews returned to a more typical number, reflecting theelimination of the backlog in publication that I reportedlast year. Currently, most reviews appear in THE LEADING

EDGE no longer than two months after being submitted.The decline in the number of review books received

from publishers appears to be continuing, so we havestarted to actively solicit books of interest from publish-ers. Fortunately, the availability of information in thisInternet age makes it fairly easy to find out about currentand forthcoming books.

Once again, I would like to thank Merrily Sanzalone ofthe SEG Business Office for her help in handling the logis-tical side of the review process, and for her efforts inlining up review copies of new books. My thanks also goto the many contributors to the Reviews column; withoutthem, the committee would not accomplish much!

Any members who would like further information orwould like to participate are welcome to contact me viae-mail: [email protected].

SEG ScholarshipLynne Justus Edleson, chairman

The SEG Foundation Scholarship program representsour dedication, as a technical organization, to ensureexcellence in the future. Through scholarships, we arerewarding academic achievements of geophysics stu-dents while providing recognition for our Society, spon-sors, and organizations. In addition, we are able to honor,through memorial scholarships, geophysicists who havebeen important in our lives.

Our students. The committee awarded scholarships to 110 of the brightest and most deserving students. Ofthis total, 72 scholarships were renewals and 38 werenew awards. Our students exemplify geophysics pro-grams at 53 colleges and universities. The scholarshiprecipients represent a diverse group whose interestsrange across all aspects of geophysics. Several major

awards, ranging from $2500 to $12 000, target outstand-ing accomplishments as well as specific specialties anduniversities. Most awards are for $1000 (52), $1500 (24),and $2000 (26).

Our sponsors. The generosity and support of the con-tributors are critical to the success of our scholarship pro-gram. Our sponsors consist of individuals, corporations,and SEG sections. A large number of our scholarships areendowed, allowing the scholarship program to have acore of money from year to year. As always, yearly contri-butions are gratefully accepted.

Sponsored Scholarships

Type Number AmountCorporations 42 $69 000Individuals 36 $88 500SEG Sections 32 $45 000

The consolidation of corporations as well as thedownturn in the economy has had a small effect on thescholarship program. This year, $202 500 was awarded,in contrast with $212 750 in 2002. Of the scholarshipsawarded, $152 000 was from endowed scholarships and$50 500 was from yearly contributions and carry-oversfrom the previous year. The fiscal soundness of this pro-gram is a reflection of the tremendous effort put forth bythe Foundation trustee associates in securing scholar-ship contributions from a myriad of contributors.

Our committee. Each member of the SEG FoundationScholarship Committee serves eight years. Each year,many hours are spent reviewing and assessing the appli-cations of numerous students in preparation for ourannual award meeting in late spring. In addition, eachcommittee member is assigned a group of scholarshiprecipients, providing a direct link for our students to SEGand the geophysics profession. Through this direct con-tact, we offer mentoring to the students and monitoringof their progress. Working with the committee membersand the students during my eight years on the commit-tee has been very special to me, and I will miss bothgroups greatly.

Many thanks to the committee members, Jim Flis,Vicki Messer, Mike McCormack, Karen Dittert, GokayBozkurt, Robert Van Nieuwenhuise, and Martin Stupel,for their hard work and dedication. In addition, the coor-dination efforts and administration expertise that areprovided by Cathy Sullins and Phyllis Connor at SEG areinvaluable to the success of this program. We were alsoextremely lucky this year to have the advantage of GaryServos’ knowledge and support as a representative fromthe SEG Foundation directors.


SEG Foundation Scholarship Sponsors forthe 2003–2004 Academic Year

AGIP $ 1000ARCO $ 2000Born Memorial, Ted $ 1000Bridges, Rutt—Tim Long Memorial $ 1000Butler, John R. Jr. $ 1000Canadian Society of Exploration

Geophysicists $ 1000ChevronTexaco E&P $12 000ConocoPhillips Inc. $ 5000Dallas Geophysical Society $ 4000Dallas Geophysical Society—

Karen Kellogg Shaw Memorial $ 7000Denver Geophysical Society $ 9000Excel Geophysical Services $ 1000ExxonMobil Upstream Research $11 500Forrest, Michael $ 2000Geophysical Society of Alaska $ 1000Geophysical Society of Houston $ 9000Geophysical Society of Houston—

Carleton-Farren Award $ 5000Geophysical Society of Oklahoma City $ 2000Geophysical Society of Tulsa $ 2000Gregg, Mark E. $ 1000Harrison, Jim and Ruth $ 2000Hewitt, Marvin and Jene $ 1000Hilterman, Fred $ 1000Hohmann Memorial $ 4000Hron Memorial $ 1000Jack, Ian (University of Birmingham) $ 5000KEGS $ 2000LaCoste $10 000Landmark Graphics $13 000Mazza Memorial, Thomas $ 1000McBride Memorial, Barbara $ 1000McBurney Memorial, Charles B. $ 2000Permian Basin Geophysical Society $ 1000Schlumberger $ 2000Shell Oil Foundation $ 2000Sheriff, Margaret S. $ 8000Sheriff, Robert E. $12 000Smith, Charlie and Jean, Geophysical

Society of Houston $13 000Softball Tournament $ 3000Tilley, Aubra $13 000Veritas DGC $ 2000WesternGeco $ 5000WesternGeco, Salvatori Memorial $ 5000WesternGeco, Savit Memorial $ 5000Wrolstad Memorial, Keith $ 1000

SEG Foundation Contributions to Scholarships250000

200000

150000

100000

50000

0

Do

llars

Years19

6119

6719

7319

7919

8519

9119

9720

03

2003 — $202,500

Number of Scholarships140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

Nu

mb

er

Years19

6119

6719

7319

7919

8519

9119

9719

6319

6919

7519

8119

8719

9319

9919

6519

7119

7719

8319

8919

9520

0120

03

2003–2004 — 110


Name University Award

Gamal Abdel Aal University of Missouri–Rolla ExxonMobil Upstream

Michelle Abraham University of Oklahoma Aubra Tilley

Ahmed Alahdal University of Oklahoma Geophysical Society of Oklahoma City

Nedra Alexander University of Texas at Austin Geophysical Society of Houston

Heather Ambrose SUNY Buffalo Charlie and Jean Smith

Alicia Arevalos Williams College Phillips Petroleum

Richard Bale University of Calgary Landmark Graphics

Elizabeth Beckel Colorado College Excel Geophysical Services

Michael Beckel Colorado College Denver Geophysical Society

Brooke Berard University of Calgary KEGS–Canada University

Alison Berenback Brown University Schlumberger

Anthony Berthelote University of Alaska, Fairbanks Geophysical Society of Houston

Erin Bruce Kansas State University Jene and Marvin Hewitt

Pablo Buenafama Texas A&M University Landmark Graphics

Hoa Quang Bui University of Oklahoma Aubra Tilley

Bundalo, Neda University of Houston Lucien LaCoste

Bethany Burton Colorado School of Mines Denver Geophysical Society

Louis Chabot University of Calgary Jim and Ruth Harrison

John Chakalis Colorado School of Mines Denver Geophysical Society

Amy Chen University of Minnesota–Twin Cities Schlumberger

Emily Chetwin Stanford University Charlie and Jean Smith

Yunhui Chu University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign ChevronTexaco E&P

Ann Cook University of Tulsa Geophysical Society of Tulsa

Laura Counihan Rice University Geophysical Society of Houston

Amy Daradich University of Toronto ExxonMobil Upstream

Gordon Davison University of Texas at Dallas Dallas Geophysical Society

Pawan Dewangan Colorado School of Mines Denver Geophysical Society

Jordan Dimick Colorado School of Mines Wrolstad Memorial

Matthew Donnelly Colorado School of Mines ExxonMobil Upstream

Diana Dragoi University of Houston G. W. Hohmann

Ben Drenth Massachusetts Institute of Technology Henry Salvatori

Lauren Edgar Dartmouth College Dallas Geophysical Society

Jennifer Engels University of Hawaii ExxonMobil Upstream

Fariz Fahmi Colorado School of Mines Shell Oil International

Andrew Frassetto University of South Carolina Veritas DGC

Sheel Ganatra Harvard University ARCO

Greg Gandler University of Arizona Landmark Graphics

Kumar Gautam University of Texas at Austin David Worthington

Rui Ge University of Texas at Dallas Karen Kellogg Shaw/Dallas Geophysical Society

Nicholas Gregg University of Oklahoma Charles B. McBurney

Jason Gumble University of Texas at Austin Permian Basin Geophysical Society

Melissa Hayes Montana Tech Geophysical Society of Houston

Andrew Hennes University of Arizona ExxonMobil Upstream

Diego Hernandez University of Oklahoma Aubra Tilley

Scott Hess Boise State University Conoco, Inc.

Andrew Hinnell University of Arizona ChevronTexaco E&P

Chadwick Holmes Columbia University ChevronTexaco E&P

Oziegbe Ilaboya University of Oklahoma Aubra Tilley

Kristopher Innanen University of British Columbia Ted Born Memorial

Ahmed Ismail University of Missouri–Rolla Charlie and Jean Smith

Yue Jia Southern Methodist University Karen Kellogg Shaw/Dallas Geophysical Society

Katerina Jovanovic University of Houston Margaret S. Sheriff

Ryan Keisler University of Texas at Austin Karen Kellogg Shaw/Dallas Geophysical Society

Sonja Kisin University of Houston Carl Savit

Artie Konrad University of California, Berkeley Conoco, Inc.

Richard Krahenbuhl Colorado School of Mines ChevronTexaco E&P


Name University Award

Lindy Kruger University of Calgary KEGS

Heidi (Anderson) Kuzma University of California, Berkeley Landmark Graphics

Jong-Sub Lee Georgia Tech Tim Long

Keumsuk Lee University of Texas at Dallas Dallas Geophysical Society

Koi-Ling Lim Michigan Technological University Softball Tournament

Kun Liu University of Calgary John Butler

John Londono Louisiana State University ChevronTexaco E&P

David McCowan Ohio University Geophysical Society of Houston

Paul McNabb Oklahoma State University Geophysical Society of Tulsa

Aaron Mertz Washington University ChevronTexaco E&P

Justin Milliard University of Montana Charlie and Jean Smith

Robert Monnar University of Nevada-Reno Landmark Graphics

Douglas Moore Michigan Techological University Tom Mazza

Christine Moran Massachusetts Institute of Technology Aubra Tilley

Tahirih Motazedian University of Oregon ARCO

Charley Murphy University of Western Ontario Softball Tournament

Adrienne Oakley University of Hawaii at Manoa Geophysical Society of Houston

Charles Oden Colorado School of Mines Charlie and Jean Smith

Sara Old Texas A&M Karen Kellogg Shaw/Dallas Geophysical Society

Suzanne Opalka Hobart and William Smith Colleges ExxonMobil Upstream

Nikita Panasenko California Institute of Technology Phillips Petroleum

Stephanie Park Auburn University Charlie and Jean Smith

Nebojsa Pralica University of Houston Robert E. Sheriff

Nathaniel Putzig University of Colorado Charlie and Jean Smith

Robert “Brent” Riley Texas A&M GSH/Carleton-Farren

Gunnar Ristroph California Institute of Technology Charlie and Jean Smith

Masako (Sugimoto) Robb University of Hawaii Michael Forrest

Emily Roland Colorado School of Mines Mark Gregg

Theodore Royer Colorado School of Mines Charlie and Jean Smith

Michael Rumon Colorado School of Mines Denver Geophysical Society

Sandra Saldana-Farkas University of Nevada, Las Vegas Geophysical Society of Houston

Caleb Schiff Indiana University Western Geophysical

Ashley Shuler Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Aubra Tilley

Wesley Schumaker University of Texas at Austin Geophysical Society of Houston

Sarah Shearer Colorado School of Mines Barbara McBride

Nicholas Sidelnik Massachusetts Institute of Technology AGIP

Satish Sinha University of Oklahoma Aubra Tilley

Tanya Slota Colorado School of Mines ExxonMobil Upstream

Justin Snyder Colorado School of Mines Denver Geophysical Society

Gabriel Solano University of Alberta Landmark Graphics

Erika Szabo University of Western Ontario Landmark Graphics

Weihua Robert Tau Massachusetts Institute of Technology Fred Hilterman

Wes Thelan University of Nevada Western Geophysical

Tobyn Van Veghten University of Missouri–Rolla G.W. Hohmann

Kathryn Watts Louisiana State University Landmark Graphics

Jonathan Weiss University of Hawaii at Manoa Geophysical Society of Alaska

Jonathan Winsor Memorial University of Newfoundland Jim and Ruth Harrison

Kathleen Wooten College of William and Mary Softball Tournament

Chi Xingang University of Houston Robert E. Sheriff

Ken Yoshioka University of Utah ChevronTexaco E&P

Shelley Zaragoza University of Nevada, Las Vegas Shell Oil International

Cleat Zeiler Montana Tech (University of Montana) Landmark Graphics

Yajun Zhang University of Alberta Frantisek Hron

Yongkai Zhang University of California, Berkeley Charlie and Jean Smith

Mikhail Zykov University of Victoria, Canada Western Geophysical

SEG Student Sections/AcademicLiaisonDoug Wyatt, chairman

The SS/AL Committee (SS/ALC) has had a good year.Although Leslie Seawright, our former key SEG staff cham-pion, is pursuing greater opportunities, her ardent sup-port and legacy continued to boost our overall committeeactivities and function throughout the year. We expressour thanks to Bill Underwood and his staff for theirexpanded and continuing support. The committee looksforward to working with Tonia Gist, our new liaison.

In 2003, the committee is supporting 118 student sec-tions. The SS/ALC and Executive Committee approved12 new sections since our last report, including threefrom the United States and one each in the Philippines,Italy, France, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria,Kazakhstan, and People’s Republic of China. Four ofthese new sections were pending last year, for an over-all gain of eight new sections for 2003. Unfortunately,three of our 118 sections became inactive, although theyare still registered. Including our new additions, we nowhave 42 United States and 76 international sections.

Overall, our student membership has increased becauseof the Student Member Corporate Sponsorship programfunded by Halliburton. The Halliburton sponsorship andstudent increase were a stated goal in our 2002 annualreport. Final student numbers will be reported by theMembership Committee.

Our review of the SS/ALC membership, initiated in2002, has resulted in a smaller list of names but a morevalid quorum. Our committee membership roll had notbeen updated in more than three years, and the status ofmany listed committee members was unknown. Eachmember was contacted and asked about the desire toremain with the committee and the preferred areas ofinvolvement. The result of this process reduced our activecommittee to 24 members. Currently, 27 active membersmake up the SS/ALC, an increase of three. Twenty-two ofour members attended our annual committee meeting inSalt Lake City. Our membership includes two representa-tives with national laboratory affiliations, eight with uni-versity affiliations, five from major oil and gas companies,eight from service/software companies, two who areretired, and two independents.

The SS/ALC Student Connections Web page is theprimary portal to our students and student sections. Thesite had 192 219 hits between November 7, 2002, andJuly 23, 2003—approximately 745 hits per day! Startingthis spring and coinciding with the upgrade to the SEGWeb pages, we began a steady updating of our data. KayWyatt has graciously taken on this task. Working withthe SEG office, she has direct access and authority toupdate and improve our student pages. Much work hasbeen done already, and we expect an increasing amount

of Web page activity as the site is improved during thenext year.

Our 2002 student reception in Salt Lake City was wellattended and received. Continuing efforts from 2001,there was an opportunity for students to visit with spon-sors during a cocktail hour at the beginning of the recep-tion. The cocktail hour allows students to gather andintermingle with sponsors and potential recruiters in aninformal social setting. Interviews with the sponsorsafterward proved that the experience was positive, andthey were enthusiastic about doing the same thing nextyear. A similar response was expressed by students. Thisapproach to the student reception and the positiveresponses obtained were a stated goal in our 2002report.

After the cocktail hour, our reception was wellattended. By multiple estimates, approximately 500students, faculty members, and sponsors attended thereception, with approximately 350 of them present dur-ing prime hours. The dance floor, disc jockey, drink bar,and heavy hors d’oeuvre combination seem to be asuccess with students.

The SS/ALC Student Connections booth was againshared with the Geoscience Center in Salt Lake City. TheSS/ALC actively supports, but tries not to duplicate,activities of the Geoscience Center. The sharing of boothspace allows students of all ages the opportunity toexperience the full range of SEG student-related activi-ties. During the Geoscience Center committee meetingin Salt Lake City, the mutual roles of the SS/ALC andGeoscience Center Committee were discussed.

By agreement, the SS/ALC and Geoscience Center com-mittees have many overlapping responsibilities, will con-tinue to support synonymous efforts while not duplicatingspecific efforts, and will continue to work together asappropriate. This discussion was addressed in the subse-quent SS/ALC meeting and agreed to by unanimous voicevote. The positive and mutually beneficial working rela-tionship between the Geoscience Center and the SS/ALCwas a goal in our 2002 annual report.

Our student-paper competition has also been verysuccessful. The quality of oral and poster papers was out-standing. The winner of our Best Student Paper was“Pressure-transient experiments and the elastic charac-terization of fractures,” by Reynaldo Cardona. OurAward of Merit (Best Student Paper) was “Analysis ofhigh-resolution aeromagnetic anomalies from the south-central Alberta Foothills, Canada,” by Christian I. Abaco.Our Best Student Poster Paper winner was “A prelimi-nary study of salt flank illumination at Vinton Dome,Louisiana: Do we need lateral wavefield continuation?,”by Cory J. Hoelting. Our Award of Merit (Best StudentPoster Paper) was “The kernel trick: Using linear algo-rithms to solve nonlinear geophysical problems,” byHeidi Kuzma.

At the most recent AAPG Annual Meeting, I attendedthe AAPG Student Expo, ad hoc Virtual Student Expo,


and Academic Liaison committee meetings in a continu-ing effort to work more closely with similar and mutual-ly supportive AAPG activities. My attendance at thesemeetings was widely appreciated by the respective com-mittee members. I believe that future SS/ALC activitiescan benefit from cooperation with AAPG, following thepattern of our AAPG/SEG Student Expo.

The SS/ALC continues its strong support for theAAPG/SEG Student Expo. The sixth Student Expo held inthe fall 2002 at Rice University had more than 175 stu-dents, 75 recruiters, and 15 corporate sponsors. Thisgreat collaboration between AAPG and SEG continues togrow in numbers of students, posters, recruiters, andsponsoring companies. To reach more students, and inresponse to requests for more “expolike” activities,AAPG, with SEG SS/ALC support, is sponsoring a job fairat the upcoming Eastern Section Meeting in Pittsburgh.

SEG is joining with AAPG, SPE, and GSA to form aVirtual Student Expo to serve the many students whocannot attend the Student Expo or one of the future jobfairs. Organizers are building the business model andexpect it to be available this fall. The SS/ALC hasexpressed support for this activity and will continue toparticipate in the Virtual Expo ad hoc committee.

In addition to our ongoing activities, the committeehas planned several activities for the coming SS/ALCyear:

• recruit more committee members from the majorsand independents to broaden our support scope

• create and upload to the Web site our student newslet-ter, The Anomaly, from 2001 through the present

• update Web-page pictures, committee membership,and other areas as needed

• maintain and update our Web-based careers page• seek to support the Geoscience Center in K-12 initia-

tives, possibly by creating or modifying a curriculumand program designed to teach geophysics to middleschool students

Unfortunately, because of budget considerations, the following goals from our 2002 report were notimplemented:

• an increase in SEG sponsorship at the ISEF to possiblyinclude category sponsorship (i.e., earth and plane-tary sciences)

• financial support of the U.S. physics team members(although information was provided to them).

The SS/ALC International Science and EngineeringFair Subcommittee. SEG, through the InternationalScience and Engineering Fair (ISEF) Subcommittee of theSS/ALC, continued its wonderful support for potential sci-ence and engineering students. This year’s ISEF SEG judg-ing team was coordinated by Richard Nolen-Hoeksemafrom the University of Michigan. His judging team includ-

ed Harold Geller of George Mason University, WayneMandell of the U.S. Army Environmental Center, JohnNorthwood of Northwood and Associates, Inc., and JayPulli of BBN Technologies.

The judges reviewed approximately 1000 projects forrelevance to geophysical-related sciences and examinedmore than 40 projects before selecting the SEG SpecialAward finalists. The creativity, dedication, and enthusi-asm of this year’s ISEF finalists were impressive. It isworth noting that more than 95% of the finalists werefrom public schools.

SEG awards $3000 in cash, plaques, and certificates toits winners, and subscriptions to TLE to the winners andtheir schools. The first-place Distinguished AchievementAward winner for 2003 was Sarah Brophy of BloomingtonHigh School North in Bloomington, Indiana. Sarah won$1000 and a trip to the SEG 2003 Annual Meeting in Dallas.Her project was “Compositional controls on soil strengthunder static and nonstatic conditions.” Sarah constitutedsoil samples of different mixtures of sand, silt, and clay,formed them into bricks, and investigated their strengthsunder nonshaking (static) and shaking (nonstatic) condi-tions. She determined that soil strength increases with claycontent, and soils are strongest under static conditions andstronger under 20-Hz shaking than under 10-Hz shaking.An expanded abstract of Sarah’s work will appear in TLEand she will attend the Annual Meeting to receive heraward.

The judges selected two second-place Awards ofMerit worth $500. Jessica Otten of Notre Dame Academy(Park Hills, New York) won for her project on the“Relation of physical properties of sands to the waterpressure needed to produce liquefaction.” Jessica lookedat the relationship between the properties of sand andliquefaction pressure, or the water pressure required tocause liquefaction. Kyle Downum of Welch High School(Welch, Oklahoma) won for his project on “Taming thequake’s shake: Using magnetorheological fluids for struc-tural support and seismic mitigation.”

SEG awarded four third-place Awards of Merit worth$250. Christopher Short of Northview High School(Brazil, Indiana) won for his project on “Analysis of wavecharacteristics of seismic waves produced by mineblasts.” Adam Flaxman of Massapequa High School(Massapequa, New York) won for his project on “Annualmodulation of earthquakes in Yellowstone National Parkand their relation to atmospheric pressure and snowload.” Michelle Louie of Kings Park High School (KingsPark, New York) won for her project, “A sensing systembased on laser intensity changes due to optical fibervibration.” Katharine Taylor of Palatka High School(Palatka, Florida) won for her project on “Mulch adoabout nothing, or is it? A quantitative analysis of arseniclevels in landscape mulch.”

The SS/ALC is committed to supporting SEG’s goalsand ideals. We are further committed to supporting,developing, and encouraging geoscience education


through SEG involvement in education. It has been agood year!

Technical StandardsAlan Faichney, chairmanMichael W. Norris, vice chairman

The SEG-Y Revision 1. The Data Exchange Format hasbeen approved by the SEG Executive Committee, andRelease 1.0 of the document is available on the SEG Web site.

The original SEG Y Data Exchange Format was pub-lished in 1975 and has achieved widespread usage in thegeophysical industry. This revision principally addressesthe standardization of header, defining a SEG Y data setas a byte stream format, and adding format structure toaccommodate high-capacity storage media and supportfor multicomponent data.

Review of current standards. In 2002, workinggroups were set up to review SEG-D and SPS. Their pur-pose was to assess suitability of the formats for servingthe present and future needs of the industry, takingaccount of technological and operational developments,and to form a view on the relative balance of costsbetween the inevitable disruption caused by modifying astandard and the costs incurred by any inefficiencies inthe existing standard.

The choices available to the reviewers were:

• take no action• completely redesign the formats• use the existing standard as a starting point and

modify the standard without requiring full backwardcompatibility

• extend the format and maintain backwardcompatibility

• encapsulate the existing format where the encapsula-tion structure contains the updated features

The reviews concluded the SEG-D format needed to beextended, but that SPS required modification. For SEG-D,the principal issues were multicomponent acquisition,trace and channel set issues, coordinates and geodesy, andmultidomain ensembles. For SPS, the principal issues weremultiple sources per location, multiple sources per shot,unstructured “free text” in H records, and geodesy andcoordinate reference systems.

A steering committee consisting of Phil Behn, MikeNorris, and me is overseeing the development of thesemodifications to the standards.

EPSG cooperation. In addition to maintaining links withthe United Kingdom Offshore Operators Association

(UKOOA) and the International Association of GeophysicalContractors (IAGC), the Technical Standards Committeehas, over the past three years, developed closer links withthe European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG), whichmaintains and publishes a comprehensive data set of para-meters for coordinate system and coordinate transforma-tion description.

In early 2002, the Technical Standards chairman wasinvited to serve as SEG’s representative on the EPSGGeodesy Working Group, to assist with resolving thetechnical and legal incompatibilities of the two stan-dards bodies.

Through 2002, good progress was made and the tech-nical issues were resolved, allowing the SEG-Y

Revision 1 to use EPSG coordinate descriptions.Through 2003, the intellectual property and legal issueshave been developed, and EPSG and SEG TSC are confi-dent that a formula has been reached that can be imple-mented.

TellersRichard S. Day, chairman

Intelliscan, Inc., in West Chester, Pennsylvania, wasretained for tabulation of the ballots for the 2003–2004election of SEG officers and district representatives.

Of the 7481 ballots mailed, 2298 valid ballots werereceived through July 31, 2003. The ballots received byJuly 24 were express mailed to Intelliscan, Inc., where thevotes were entered, verified, tabulated, and returned to theSEG Business Office. The 75 ballots received between July 25 and July 31 were counted by hand and the resultsadded to the tabulation under the supervision of JohnHufford, acting chairman of the Tellers Committee. Twoballots were declared invalid. A three-way tie of districtrepresentative candidates in District 2 was decided bysecret vote of the SEG Committee on Nominations, inaccordance with SEG Bylaws, Article VII, Section 7.

On July 31, John Hufford verified the count providedby Intelliscan, Inc. The data input was checked on 25%of the batches processed by Intelliscan, with no inputerrors found.

The election results are as follows:

2003–2004 SEG Executive CommitteePresident-elect Craig J. BeasleyFirst vice president Brian R. SpiesSecond vice president William H. GreenVice president Leon ThomsenSecretary-treasurer Stephen J. HillEditor Gerard T. Schuster

(elected for two-year term)


District Representatives

District 2:David A. CunninghamGeoffrey Alan DornEdward Lee Shuck

District 3:Luis L. CanalesJames Joseph CarazzonePhilip Michael FontanaAlan R. HuffmanGuy Winsor PurnellJohn Brumfield RandolphDonald Eugene RiceH. Austin Von der Hoya IIDouglas E. Wyatt Jr.

District 4:Philip Towey

District 5:William A. Nickerson

District 6:Jorge E. Estrada M.

District 7:Helmut Jakubowicz

District 8:Ozdogan Yilmaz

District 9:Panos G. Kelamis

District 10:Mazin Taji FaroukiWenrong Xu

THE LEADING EDGE Editorial BoardRocky Roden, chairman

This has been a very successful year for THE LEADING

EDGE in presenting practical and leading-edge technolo-gy to the SEG membership. In fact, a recent survey ofwhere geophysicists get their technical informationrated TLE as the leading source in the industry. This suc-cess results from the efforts of the editorial board andSEG staff, who continuously strive to present one of themost useful and needed publications for the geosciencecommunity. Special recognition goes to Dean Clark andDolores Proubasta, whose knowledge and experiencehelp continue the excellence of TLE.

This past year ended the terms on the TLE EditorialBoard for Linda Sternbach and Gene Sparkman. TLE is amuch better publication because of Linda’s hard work anddedication in developing the “Interpreter’s Corner” fea-ture. Gene’s many contributions and experience as pastchairman have helped to maintain the success of TLE.

In an effort to address the most pertinent technical top-ics in geoscience, TLE has published numerous articles inspecial sections such as “Seismic Attributes,” “West AfricaPetroleum Province,” “Prestack Depth Migration,”“eBusiness and the Internet,” “Solid-Earth Seismology,”“Offshore Technology,” “Development and Production,”“Mining Geophysics,” “Carbonate Geophysics,” and“Gravity/Magnetics.” Upcoming special sections in 2003include “Rock Geophysics/AVO,” “Latin America,” and“Multicomponent.” In fact, the Best Paper and HonorableMention Paper for 2002 were from two of these special sec-tions. The Best Paper was “Interactive seismic facies classifi-cation using textural attributes and neural networks,” byBrian P. West, Steven R. May, John Eastwood, and ChristineRossen. The Honorable Mention Paper was “Integrated seis-mic and subsurface characterization of Bonga Field, offshoreNigeria,” by Mark Chapin, Peter Swinburn, Raphic van derWeiden, Dieter Skaloud, Sola Adesanya, David Stevens, ChrisVarley, Jacob Wilkie, Eric Brentjens, and Martijn Blaauw.

Because of industry consolidation and the economicdownturn, advertising revenue for fiscal year 2003—$802 217—was more than $180 000 below the fiscal2002 figure. However, this total was more than $55 000above a midyear projection. Meanwhile, TLE expenseswere slightly below the midyear projection, partlybecause of lower print costs resulting from lower pagecounts. TLE advertising revenue over expenses was$692 435, and revenue over expenses for all other TLEactivities was minus $689 653.

Based on discussions of the SEG Executive Committeeand members of the TLE Editorial Board, it was decided toincrease the emphasis on the business aspects of our indus-try in TLE. In the future, there will be an effort to publisha “Business Bottom Line” article in every issue, including aquarterly article by the International Association ofGeophysical Contractors (IAGC). In addition, the industryNews Briefs were restored to the printed version of TLE.

One of the most exciting future developments is theTLE forum, planned for the SEG 2003 Annual Meeting inDallas. The forum, “The Future of the Upstream Oil andGas Industry,” will include six prestigious panelists and amoderator. Mike Forrest is responsible for helping to orga-nize this forum and deserves much recognition. Because ofthe expected high interest level in this forum, SEG hasdeveloped a special registration rate for attendance at theIcebreaker and the TLE forum.

I will be the only board member leaving in October,and I will be replaced by Ali Tura. Lawrence Gochiocowill be the incoming chairman. He will have an excellentboard to continue the tradition of TLE.


TranslationsIlya Tsvankin

During the report period (June 2002-June 2003) theTranslations Committee considered a number of foreign-language books for possible translation and publicationby SEG. The committee met at the SEG 2002 AnnualMeeting in Salt Lake City and continued discussions by e-mail throughout the year. Two books were recom-mended for publication: Three-Dimensional Magneto-tellurics, by Vjacheslav Spichak and Inverse Problems in Geophysics, by Tatiana Yanovskaya and LudmilaPorokhova. Both books will have to be revised andupdated, and the book by Yanovskaya and Porokhovaneeds to be translated into English. Magnetotellurics inthe Context of Theory of Ill-Posed Problems, by MarkBerdichevsky and Vladimir Dmitriev, translated fromRussian and recommended by the committee to SEG,was published in 2002.

Another Russian book, Statistical Methods forProcessing and Interpretation of Geophysical Data, byVladimir Troyan and Yuri Kiselev, is under review. Thecommittee declined to recommend for translation thebooks Impedance Imaging Methods by Hiromasa Shimaet al. and Anisotropy and Dispersion of Elastic Wavesin Layered Periodic Structures, by Boris Sibiriakov et al.

Tables of contents of the following foreign journalsare presently published in GEOPHYSICS on a regular basis.

ChinaOil Geophysical Prospecting Journal of the University of Petroleum

HungaryGeophysical Transactions of the Eötvös Lorand

Geophysical InstituteJapan

Butsuri-Tansa (Geophysical Exploration) of the SEG Japan

RussiaGeology and Geophysics, Russian Academy of

Sciences, Siberian BranchUkraine

Geophysical Journal, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences

Tables of contents of other journals and one-timereports of possible interest to the readership ofGEOPHYSICS are published as they become available.


AGI Member Society CouncilWalt Lynn, representative

The American Geological Institute is a nonprofit federa-tion of 41 geoscientific and professional associations thatrepresents more than 100 000 geologists, geophysicists,and other earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI providesinformation services to geoscientists, serves as a voice ofshared interests in our profession, plays a major role instrengthening geoscience education, and strives toincrease public awareness of the vital role the geosciencesplay in society’s use of resources and interaction with theenvironment. News, trends, and general informationregarding the geosciences are disseminated through AGI’sprimary publication, Geotimes, and through its Web site,www.agiweb.org. Although the AGI staff spends a con-siderable amount of time and effort monitoring political,environmental, and economic issues related to the geo-sciences, its primary benefits to SEG members are relatedto its many educational projects and initiatives.

AGI held two meetings of the Member SocietyCouncil this past year, one in December 2002 and theother in April 2003. At the first meeting, a summary wasgiven of the latest AGI-sponsored Leadership Forum.These forums provide an opportunity for the membersocieties of AGI to go into detail on the numerous pro-jects done under the auspices of AGI. Of particular rele-vance to SEG were the topics of earth-science teacherpreparation and education outreach. Although these dis-cussions focused on U.S.-related issues, the problemsand concerns are worldwide. Related to earth-scienceeducation outreach was a summary of Earth ScienceWeek 2002 held in October. More than 10 000 activitykits were distributed, with participation from all 50states and nearly 20 other countries worldwide.

Another topic that was summarized at the Decembermeeting was GeoScienceWorld, or GSW. This is an ini-tiative among seven geoscience societies (includingSEG) to create an electronic aggregate of geosciencejournals. The initiative is in a pilot-project stage andhopes to launch a modestly sized aggregate in 2004. Irepresented SEG on this project through December2002. The executive director of SEG, Mary Fleming, isnow the representative.

At the April 2003 meeting, updates were given onseveral relevant projects in earth-science education and Member Society collaboration. Earth Science Week

2003 will be held October 12–18, with the theme Eyes on planet earth: Monitoring our changing world. Further details can be found on the AGI Web site:www.earthsciweek.org. A subcommittee of the AGIexecutive committee and member society representa-tives (including me) have been working on a new strate-gic plan for AGI. The plan was finalized in June 2003. Abrief summary of the latest draft was given at the meet-ing. It was agreed that a more complete summary will begiven at the next AGI Member Society Council meeting.

Last, AGI has long recognized that its focus has beenon geoscience issues related to the United States. Tobroaden the geographic scope of AGI, a new subcom-mittee has been formed, the International AffairsAdvisory Committee.

API Central Committee forTelecommunicationsCliff Ray, representative

Membership on the API TelecommunicationCommittee provides SEG an opportunity to be kept upto date on regulatory and legislative matters that mayaffect the use of the radio spectrum for geophysical pur-poses. The mission of this committee is to support theoil and gas industry’s effective management and im-plementation of telecommunication technologies,resources, and regulatory and legislative effects. As non-voting members, we have an opportunity to attend twomeetings each year that have speakers from both theFederal Communication Commission and industry.

I attended the September 22–25, 2002, meeting inWashington, D.C., but was unable to attend the April2003 meeting in Dallas, Texas. Items discussed at thesemeetings that may be of interest to SEG members include:

1. As previously reported, the FCC on February 14,2002, issued a First Report and Order permittingdevelopers of products incorporating ultra-wideband(UWB) technology to begin marketing and deployingthese devices in the bands between 3.1 and 10.6 GHz,subject to certain technical standards and limitations.The commission’s decision was controversial becauseseveral federal agencies had advocated a more restric-tive bandwidth range for UWB operations because ofconcerns about interference to governmental sys-

36

Reports of the Representatives

tems. In a Memorandum Opinion and Order releasedon March 12, the commission did not make any sub-stantial changes to the UWB technical standards toaccommodate two particular types of UWB systemsand proposed a change to the nonUWB Part 15 stan-dards to more appropriately reflect the interference cri-teria that should be applied to wide-bandwidth trans-mitters that do not operate under the UWB standards.As part of the determination, the commission has ruledthat some UWB applications, such as ground-penetrat-ing radar (GPR), should be allowed to operate in anypart of the spectrum (with certain limitations), becausetheir energy is directed into the ground and will poselittle threat of interference.

2. The commission released a Notice of ProposedRulemaking (NPRM) on March 26 that looks towardrevisions to the commission’s schedule of regulatoryfees to collect $269 000 000 (mandated by Con-gress) to recover the regulatory costs associated withthe commission’s enforcement, policy and rulemaking,user information, and international activities for fiscalyear (FY) 2003. Relevant regulatory fees are subject toincreases of $10–$210 a year, depending on the ser-vice.

3. On August 26, 2002, the Forest Conservation Council,the American Bird Conservancy, and Friends of theEarth filed a joint petition for National EnvironmentalPolicy Act Compliance (Petition) with the FCC thatasks the agency to consider the impact of “past, pre-sent, and reasonably foreseeable communicationstower authorizations” on migratory birds in the GulfCoast region. The petition, if granted by the commis-sion, could impact tower owners in the vicinity of theGulf shoreline. The petitioners claim that millions ofbirds, including many that are members of endan-gered species, are killed every year in collisions withcommunications towers and that the impact is partic-ularly severe in the Gulf Coast region because it is acritical stopover point during seasonal migration. Thepetition requests among other things: (1) an ordermandating the owners of more than 5000 specifiedtower structures in the Gulf Coast region to prepareenvironmental assessment reports “disclosing thedirect, indirect, and cumulative impacts of their struc-tures on migratory birds,” and (2) that the commis-sion refrain from registering any new towers in theGulf Coast region that adversely affect migratory birdsunless and until the agency complies with variousenvironmental statutes and allows an opportunity forpublic notice and comment. The Personal Communi-cations Industry Association filed a motion to dismissthe petition on procedural grounds. The commissionhas yet to take action in the matter.

4. The FCC released a Second Report and Order (SecondR&O) and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rule-making on February 25, relating to Promotion of

Spectrum Efficient Technologies on Certain Part 90Frequencies (RM-9332). In this Second R&O, the com-mission imposed a deadline of January 1, 2013, formigration to 12.5-kHz technology for nonpublic safe-ty systems. Beginning six months from publication ofthe Second R&O in the Federal Register, the FCC willprohibit any applications for new operations orexpansions to existing operations using 25-kHz chan-nels. The FCC’s amended rules also will prohibit thecertification of any equipment that includes a 25-kHzmode, beginning on January 1, 2005. The manufac-ture and importation of any 25-kHz equipment will beprohibited beginning January 1, 2008.

I plan to attend the fall meeting in Washington, D.C.,again this year. We will have the opportunity to discussissues relating to radio spectrum regulatory and legisla-tive matters with representatives from the FCC andother knowledgeable speakers. If you have any particu-lar radio–spectrum questions you would like for me toaddress, please let me know.

Offshore Technology Conference(OTC)Board of DirectorsJack Caldwell

SEG is a sponsoring organization of the OffshoreTechnology Conference. The relationship dates to 1968,when SEG accepted an invitation to join with AIME andseven other engineering and scientific societies to estab-lish OTC as an interdisciplinary meeting on technologyrelated to offshore resources. As a sponsoring organiza-tion, SEG is entitled to appoint one of the 13 membersof the OTC board of directors. I have just completed myfirst year as SEG’s representative on the board, trying invain to replace Jamie Robertson, who served for fouryears. I participated on the Awards Committee and theSelect 2003 Committee this past year.

The 2003 Offshore Technology Conference was heldMay 5–8 at Reliant Park in Houston, Texas. The theme forthe conference was Envision. Enable. Enact. Total atten-dance was 50 655 (up from 49 620 in 2002); 2010exhibitors (2024 in 2002) from 27 countries occupied 384 450 square feet of exhibit space (375 200 in 2002),and the energy level on the exhibition floor was very high.

The technical program was of high quality and quan-tity, with 282 technical papers presented. Two OTC gen-eral sessions were held: West African Oil and Gas:Defining the Future and Sustainable Development:Issues and Implications to the Offshore Industry.

At each conference, the OTC Active Arena focuses ontechnology, opportunities, and developments in anextremely active area of the world. This year’s focus


was Offshore Brazil—Status Five Years After Opening.Four industry breakfasts were held this year, North SeaOpportunities Forum on Monday, Oil and Gas SectorPerspectives on Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela onTuesday, Business Opportunities in Sakhalin Island’s Oiland Gas Sectors on Wednesday, and World Energy CitiesPartnership (WECP)—Benefits to Emerging Countries onThursday. Nine topical luncheons were held, four onMonday and five on Wednesday.

The 2003 OTC Distinguished Achievement Award forIndividuals was presented to Albert W. (Bert) Bally, pro-fessor emeritus, Rice University, and retired from Shell OilCompany, for his seminal work on developing an under-standing of the structural evolution of basins and how thatevolution is expressed in seismic reflection data. The 2003OTC Distinguished Achievement Award for Companies,Organizations, and Institutions was presented to Total forthe Girassol project in offshore Angola, the largest deep-water subsea development ever brought into production.A Special Citation was presented to Atlantia Offshore Ltd.for successful development, construction, and installationof the Morpeth SeaStar Platform in 1670 feet of water inthe Gulf of Mexico. The awards luncheon keynote speak-er was Walter van de Vijver, group manager director, RoyalDutch/Shell Group of Companies, and CEO of ShellExploration and Production.

Topics in exploration and development geophysicswere provided in the outstanding program assembled byDan Ebrom, chairman, Guy Purnell, vice chairman, andmembers of the SEG subcommittee of the OTC 2003Technical Program committee. On Monday, a session onacquisition was chaired by Gene Sparkman and BillBarkhouse, and a session on geohazards was chaired byCraig Shipp and Bob Bruce. On Tuesday, there were twosessions on geohazards, with particular emphasis on theSigsbee Escarpment. The session chairs were DanOrange, Stephen Taylor, Suzanne Lacasse, and AlanYoung. On Wednesday, two sessions were related topore pressure. The chairs were Linda Zimmerman,Stephen Mitchell, Dan Ebrom, and Guy Purnell.

The quality of the geophysics segment of the technicalprogram remains very high and should be recognized bythe SEG membership. It is worthwhile to attend the OTCto participate in some of the technical sessions producedby the SEG subcommittee of the OTC technical programcommittee. This high quality comes about only throughthe immense effort of the people listed above, with specialmention again of Dan Ebrom and Guy Purnell. Recognitionshould also be given to Alf Klaveness, who served ascochair of the Arrangements Committee of the OTC 03Conduct Committee.

The 2004 OTC will be held at Reliant Park on May 3–6,and the theme will be Innovation without Limits.

OTC Technical ProgramDan Ebrom, representativeGuy Purnell, representative

This year’s Offshore Technology Conference, thesecond OTC to be held in the newly built ReliantConvention Center, had an attendance topping 50 000.In spite of mixed signals of growth and contraction inthe oil industry, the attendance was the largest in manyyears. The floor show was large, filling most availablespace and threatening to overflow the enormous displayareas. On a personal note, I think the food is better thanbefore the move to Reliant Center. The awards luncheonwas amazingly well choreographed, with a multimediaset of teasers between eminent speakers from the oilcompanies and major contractors. Total (formerlyTotalFinaElf) was honored as Company of the Year for itsinnovative and rapid development of the Girassol fieldoffshore Angola.

The technical program this year was as strong as ever,with three days of geophysics and geology. A fascinatingsession on acquisition was headed by Gene Sparkmanand Bill Barkhouse on Monday. This session on advancedseismic sources and receivers showcased everythingfrom incremental improvements on existing gear to rad-ical new technologies such as the Naval Helmholtz res-onator source.

On Tuesday, two sessions were held on the geologyand geophysics of the near surface at the Sigsbee escarp-ment. That may sound a little academic until we add thatthe BP fields of Atlantis and Mad Dog are in that area.

One of the key insights I took away from this session,which I will credit to Jim Thomson for getting across, isthat there is a broader utility to geohazards work thanjust the (very important) short-term benefit of correctlysiting facilities on stable sediments. That broader utilityis the more sophisticated understanding, in significantdetail, of recent sedimentological deposition and theirgeophysical expression. Because sediments of the past(our targets in the oil business) presumably were laiddown by mechanisms similar to those operating today,insights into the near surface have implications forreservoir and seal geometries deeper down.

The Sigsbee escarpment session was coordinatedbrilliantly by Dan Orange, who also gave a great pair oftalks on the geophysics of the near subsurface along theescarpment.

On Wednesday, two sessions on pore pressure show-cased some of the leading-edge approaches to estimatingpressure from geophysical data sets augmented by basinmodeling. Thanks go to Paul Mitchell and LindaZimmerman for chairing the morning session.


Mark Alberty set the stage with a keynote addressoutlining the state of the art in pressure prediction.Seismic data, of course, have been extraordinarily usefulin pressure prediction.

One interpreter showed how his company avoided apotential shallow–water flow by threading the boreholearound the overpressured sand unit, using 3D seismicamplitudes to guide their wellbore. Keith Katahara gavesome nice insight into the petrophysics of deepwatersediments, and Tina Fitts showed the utility of adding ingravity to constrain subsurface density (and henceporosity) models. Pat Hooyman gave a great talk aboutthe use of tomography to improve seismic velocities forpressure prediction in a field in Mexico.

Martin Albertin discussed a straightforward, powerfulmethod of viewing pressure in practical terms—drilla-bility, or the number of casing strings needed to reach atarget. He showed how drillability in color overlain onseismic sections could steer a drilling choice away fromthe crest of a structure (where too many casing stringswould be needed to allow economic production) to aspot lower than the crest, where pressures were moretolerable from a drilling perspective.

The mood at the OTC remains optimistic. By thistime, all the pessimists have left the business, so all of usthat remain are incorrigible in this regard! On the OTC2004 geophysical technical committee, we have begunto plan for next year’s show, which will center on deep-water interpretation, multiples suppression, and time-lapse seismics. I would like to thank Jonathan Bork fortaking on the challenge of organizing the deepwaterinterpretation session and Ken Matson for managing thesession on multiples suppression. Thanks to all whoserved on this year’s committee, both as reviewers ofpapers and as session chairs. Their efforts made the pro-gram possible.

Petroleum Technology TransferCouncil (PTTC)Board of DirectorsHugh Rowlett Jr., representative

The Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (PTTC)continues to play an important role in the transfer oftechnology to independent oil and gas producers.Independent oil and gas companies in the United Statesdrill 85% of all domestic wells, produce 65% of domesticnatural gas, and produce 60% of the oil in the lower 48states. The independent producer continues to producemore and more of the domestic United States oil and gas,as major producers focus on international projects.

PTTC is a national not-for-profit information networkformed in 1993 by oil and natural gas producers. Programs

are funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Energy’s(DOE) Office of Fossil Energy through the NationalPetroleum Technology Office (NPTO) and Strategic Centerfor Natural Gas (SCNG) within the National EnergyTechnology Laboratory (NETL). Other funding comes fromstate governments, universities, state geological surveys,and industry contributions.

Because most independent producers do not have in-house technology organizations and applied technologyplays a major role in finding new reserves and increasingthe recovery factor in exiting reservoirs, there is a need totransfer technology to independent producers. PTTCserves this function.

Independent oil and gas producers ranked their tech-nology needs as follows: (1) produce more from existingwells by identifying behind-pipe potential or throughadvanced stimulation; (2) prioritize in-field developmentthough geologic targeting; and (3) increase output throughimproved oil-recovery methods using realistic screeningcriteria and benefiting from sound operating practices, asdocumented in case studies.

PTTC offers more than 100 annual workshops through-out the country that are organized though its 10 regionalresource centers. PTTC’s workshops provide solutions toaddress specific regional concerns, ranging from 3D seis-mic imaging to field operations to horizontal drilling.These low-cost workshops can help independent opera-tors reduce finding costs, improve operations, and meetenvironmental regulations.

PTTC is a valuable resource for the industry, and SEGhas a major role to play with PTTC and independent pro-ducers through knowledge transfer of locally appropriateand cost-effective methods in seismic acquisition, process-ing, and interpretation of 3D data. This relationship willbecome even more important as producers reevaluatehydrocarbon recovery in medium to large fields.

PTTC’s Web site, http://www.pttc.org, is a usefulresource for learning more about this organization. TheWeb site has a list of workshops from 1995, an extensivelist of different technologies in summary form, links tomany petroleum-related publications and calendars,various initiatives conducted by the regional centers, andcontact information. In 2002, PTTC initiated “TechnologyAlerts,” an approximately biweekly mass e-mail providinghighlights from industry, DOE, and PTTC, plus an alert toupcoming PTTC events.

Headquarters for PTTC are now located in Houston,Texas, bringing PTTC close to many of the contractors thathave the technology to service the petroleum industry.SEG members can also visit with PTTC representatives atthe SEG 2003 Annual Meeting. SEG technology leaders andeducators who have applied technology useful to inde-pendent producers will find the PTTC organization a goodvehicle to interface with this sector of the petroleumindustry.


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