Bureau senior research scientist Sergey Fomel was recognized by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists as coauthor of the best paper of 2017 in the journal Interpretation. The paper was coauthored by former UT Austin Institute for Geophysics post-doc Rui Zhang, now an assistant professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Titled “Time-variant wavelet extraction with a local-attribute-based time-frequency decomposition for seismic inversion,” the paper introduced an innovative method to generate time-varying wavelets by using a spectral decomposition technique, which can benefit seismic inversion for improved resolution. Interpretation, which is copublished by the SEG and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, aims to accelerate innovation in interpretation for resource exploration, exploitation, and environmental stewardship. The award will be presented officially during the SEG Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California, in October.
SEG also named the Bureau of Economic Geology winner of the SEG Distinguished Achievement Award. The honor was bestowed for the Bureau’s contributions that have substantially advanced the science of exploration geophysics, and for its contributions to geophysics in oil and gas exploration and development over the last century. Among the many contributions enumerated by SEG are the early development of reflection seismology and seismic stratigraphy; the transfer of 3D seismic technology to independents in Texas and surrounding states; the release of 3D digital seismic data sets to the public; oversight and management of the Devine Test Site; several dedicated seismic research labs; graduate student training; geoscience education for K–12 students; and maintaining the largest core repository in the U.S.
