Executive Message

As my first year of duties on the CSEG Executive as Assistant Director of Education winds to a close, I will echo what I have heard and read from other Executives in the past… it has been busy. At first blush, I have to plead ignorance to the scope of volunteer activities that take place within the CSEG. For every technical luncheon or event, Doodle- Train week, Symposium, workshop, course, journal issue, or any other CSEG event, there have been many hours of unseen volunteer work and time that have gone into it. Before my time on the executive, I admit that I took it all for granted. First, I would like to thank Shawn Maxwell for his guidance and advice during the first year, as he has been exceedingly helpful given his busy and travel-heavy schedule. Second, I would like to thank all of the volunteers that make the CSEG the financially sound and educationally rich professional society that we all enjoy. To all volunteers of the CSEG, and all of the committees that fall under the Continuing Education chain within, your work is deeply appreciated and valuable; thank you again for all of your hard work and time. Finally, I would appeal to you, the reader, to take an active part within your society. Our future depends on an engaged membership. If you have an idea for a course, an article for a publication, a technical luncheon talk, or have time to give to assist in our activities, please consider becoming involved.

At the time of this publication, several important events will be on the horizon or have just recently occurred. The 3rd annual CSEG Symposium will take place on March 6th 2014, and will be rightfully honouring John Boyd and his many contributions to the CSEG and the science and business of geophysics. In addition, we have the SEG Distinguished Instructor Short Course (DISC) being taught by Shawn Maxwell on March 17th. Shawn will be giving his course on “Microseismic Imaging of Hydraulic Fracturing: Improved Engineering of Unconventional Shale Reservoirs”, and Calgary has the distinction of being the first stop on Shawn’s world tour. To round off a busy March, we have the Annual General Meeting on March 31st. This will be the hand-off for the 2013 executive to bid farewell (with the exception of Ron Larson, who will carry on as Past President) and the 2014 executive to take over the helm. A bit further on the horizon, we will have the Canadian Distinguished Lecturer Bernd Milkereit for the April 28th technical luncheon.

Over the course of the last several years, we have seen increasing feedback from members concerning geophysics’ contribution and value in unconventional exploration and development (tight oil/gas and oil sands fall under this umbrella). To that end, we have instituted several initiatives to broaden the reach of the CSEG to other societies and to increase our educational resources within our own society, specifically within the engineering realm. In 2014, we will see the CSEG reaching out to our colleagues in the SPE in several ways: a "Value Added" geophysics course, which is still under construction, and the addition of a “Completions Engineering for Geoscientists” (or something akin to that) course to our yearly offerings. This will be alongside all of our equally important initiatives that have been part of the CSEG Continuing Education arm in the past. I hope that these initiatives will add to the value that our members receive from the CSEG, and assist with the integration of geophysics into other disciplines.