Presidential Column

Will Spring ever arrive?? Hopefully by the time this edition of the RECORDER is delivered, we will be basking in the sunshine and dusting off our cowboy boots and hats (or leaving town) in preparation for Stampede week.

What a convention! Hats off to the many volunteers who worked tirelessly to make the 2011 joint convention a success! I have heard many kudos from the attendees offered to the various committees for jobs well done, and I want to pass on my personal thanks as well as from the CSEG Executive to each and every one of the volunteers headed up by the Steering Committee of General Co-Chairs and their respective technical Co-Chairs Rob McGrory and Laurie Bellman (CSEG), Paul McKay and Per Kent Pedersen (CSPG) and Satyaki Ray and Simon Corti (CWLS). Our Exhibits Chair Judi MacDonald, and Sponsorship Chair Carmen Swalwell and their assistants were responsible for exceeding budget for exhibit and sponsorship revenues, and our convention staff Aileen Lozie and Alyssa Middleton tied everything together. There were countless others who contributed in no small part to the success of this year’s convention, and we thank you.

As the committees wrap up their post-convention accounts, preliminary numbers look good. 4401 attendees participated in the convention, higher than 2009 but lower than last year when we had 8 societies participating. We had a lot of good feedback regarding the free exhibit hall pass available in the days leading up to the convention – most thought that this contributed to a more vibrant floor. (or was it the increased business optimism?) More detailed statistics to follow as they become available.

As best they can gauge it at this time, the Earth Science for Society committee estimate that 700 general public and 2000 students and teachers attended the Earth Science for Society exhibition as part of the convention. Yukon Dan and the Resources & You exhibits were tied for the most popular, and Gil Tucker from Global did a nice piece on the ESfS event in one of their news spots. A standing ovation to Rick Wierzbicki, Annette Milbradt, Helen Isaac and scores of other volunteers who made it happen. There was a lot of energy when all of those kids hit the floor.

Look forward to next year’s Convention – “Vision”

Satinder Chopra will be co-chairing the event along with John Cody (CSPG) and Roy Benteau (CWLS). John Fernando will be the CSEG technical co-chair, and at the time of writing the other society’s technical co-chairs have not been designated. The CSEG will be operating the 2012 convention and staffing considerations are in progress.

We’re moving... for sure!

The paint is drying and the end of June will see the CSEG office move to the Roslyn building. We’re putting the final touches on the office improvements, and Jim and Sheryl can’t wait to move into the new digs. Make a point of coming in to the new office on the 5th floor of 400, 5th Avenue when you have a chance to say “Hi”.

The CSEG Foundation

I promised last month that I would outline the CSEG Foundation in this month’s column. Many of our members don’t know what the Foundation is or what they do. I hope to shed some light on this for you – and please go to the Foundation website at http://cseg.ca/foundation/ for additional information.

Basically, the Foundation is the CSEG’s registered charity that provides funding to geophysical related activities in support of the development of geophysical knowledge, education and public awareness. While relatively young, their goal is to become completely self-funding by growing their corpus – the funds that generate their income stream – to a sufficient size to accomplish this. Efforts are currently being considered that would see the Foundation undertake a major funding drive to reach that goal sooner than the founders had originally anticipated.

The Foundation operates as a registered charity with a Board of Directors: Brian Russell (Chair), Neil Rutherford, (Treasurer), Larry Herd (CSEG Pres.), Perry Kotkas (Sec.), Annette Milbradt, Hassan Odhwani, Matthew Klukas, and Sarah Cutten (Non Voting). Laurie Ross and John Boyd have just recently elected to the Board and by time of printing should be instated at the Foundation’s AGM.

The mandate of the CSEG Foundation is to encourage and support scientific, educational and charitable activities that benefit geophysicists through the solicitation of contributions aimed at promoting the development of geophysical knowledge, education and public awareness. The activities of the Foundation are intended to supplement and support other CSEG committees by creating and increasing the Foundation’s endowments:

• Liaise with other geophysical foundations throughout the world (e.g. SEG Foundation)
• Establish programs supporting education in geophysics and the earth sciences;
• Support post-secondary education in geophysics and the earth sciences, including the continuation of the CSEG scholarship programs;
• Support continuing education of geophysicists through the development of courses relating to developing technology, publications relating to the geosciences and by establishing education programs;
• Support scientific activities by providing seed funding of academic research programs;
• Develop and support non-profit programs designed to further the development of geophysical techniques aimed at improvements in geophysical applications in the earth sciences;
• Support the preservation of the history of geophysical exploration.

The CSEG Foundation manages the CSEG’s Scholarship Program, awarding scholarships to successful University students who apply. The Foundation also issued $10,000 in travel grants and education subsidies to worthy applicants.

The CSEG Outreach efforts are conducted through committees of the Foundation. Helen Isaac chairs Schools Outreach and Perry Kotkas leads Public Outreach. The Foundation’s dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers attended 20 career fairs and assorted exhibitions in 2010 and talked to students and the public about geophysics. They travelled with their booth to Vancouver, Kelowna, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Canmore, and Edmonton as well as locally in the Calgary area. They present the science of geophysics with PowerPoint shows, interactive seismic displays and other demonstration materials.

University Student Outreach (USO) is led by Stephen Kotkas. This subcommittee continues to expand its activities and has increased student membership to almost 250. USO activities included sponsoring three and attending two undergraduate conferences with the CSEG Outreach booth, attending two University career fairs, presenting Best Geophysical Paper awards at two undergraduate conferences, maintaining e-mail and newsletter communications with students, making connections between students and the Scholarship committee and the Foundation for travel grants, organizing a student area at the convention, helping to deliver Geoskills 2010 for university students and junior geophysicists, providing networking opportunities, and running a one day summer student field trip in June. CSEG USO also liaises with other organizations for events like AAPG’s Imperial Barrel Award, U of C EAGE’s student chapter talks, and APEGGA’s Alberta Student Energy Conference. The Mentorship program was successfully launched in 2009-10 and in 2010-11continues to grow and be a valuable resource for our university student members.

Mark Lane leads the Challenge Bowl subcommittee with Brian Russell and other Outreachers. The dynamic moderator, Peter Duncan, emceed the Challenge Bowl. I attended this year’s Challenge Bowl at the convention and our own U of C CREWES team took first place.

Ambassadors are CSEG representatives in cities across Canada and internationally. In 2010, this program included meet-andgreet opportunities for CSEG members and university students in Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Saskatoon.

Seismic in Motion for Students allows Calgary Board of Education high school students to attend the Canadian Association of Geophysical Contractors’ Seismic in Motion field trip. This one day field trip showcases seismic exploration activities in the oil and gas industry. Up to 50 participants from different high schools attend on each of the three days, as well as 100 people per day from the petroleum industry. The week before the field trip, a Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists Outreach Committee volunteer gives a ‘Careers in Geophysics’ presentation to the students in their home school to promote awareness of the science of geophysics. Then, the students take part in the one-day Canadian Association of Geophysical Contractor’s trip to the field to observe all aspects of seismic operations.

What does the future hold for the Foundation?

• Continued funding of the CSEG scholarship program.
• Increase the legacy/initial endowment of ~$200K to reach the goal of $1 million.
• Investigate the feasibility of conducting a major funding drive.
• Actively administer and distribute donations, such as any accumulated CSEG surplus, to expand outreach Outreach and educational opportunities.

I encourage you to support the CSEG Foundation in whatever way you wish, either personally or through your company. Contact the CSEG office at (403) 262-0015 or cseg.office@shaw.ca for more information. They are always looking for volunteers.

Doodlespiel Memories

In preparation for next year’s 40th annual Doodlespiel, this year’s committee is looking for information about previous events, particularly those that occurred in the 70s 80s and early 90s. If you were a past Chair of the committee, or have some interesting anecdotes to share, please contact Roger Edgecombe at rogere@boydpetro.com with your scoop. I know I remember some wild and wooly bonspiels that I will be reminiscing about when I was chairman. I just wish I could remember more of them!

Next Month: Our various Social Committees and events. Until then, stay safe and have a great spring!