In my September, 2011 President’s Article in the Journal I stated that the GSH had many new challenges and with them came new opportunities. Some of the key focus areas for the current year were:

We have increased our membership. Currently the GSH has 1486 total members. This is still far from our goal of 2,000 members, but we are working to make that goal. I encourage you to make it your goal to add at least one new member to the GSH this year. Help us grow the organization. Look around your office for possible candidates. Seek out and talk to the non-members that often attend our events (hint: they have the red dot on their name tags). Let them know what the GSH offers in the way of career development, networking, fellowship, education, philanthropy, etc. Let’s make the GSH a joining society. Let’s bring in the new blood that is our future.

 

We started a monthly Technical Breakfast meeting at Anadarko’s office on the north side of the city. We believe this additional technical program will increase our membership and our attendance from those that live and work in this area. Many of our energy companies are located there, and one very large one will be relocating there soon. We plan on hosting several events on the north side, including social activities.

 

The GSH has held its first live on-line training course. Mike Graul and Fred Hilterman tested the idea with their course on AVO - Seismic Lithology. The response was great with over 35 students, some even from overseas. We are planning additional training courses. I encourage you to look into this GSH training option for yourself and for those in your company. It is a very cost and time efficient delivery system of high quality training from world-class teachers.

 

Fred Hilterman, our First Vice President, has put together an outstanding technical program as attendance seems to validate. Our goal was to highlight talks from leading oil companies in Houston including how they have used geophysical technology to achieve their E&P objectives. We have had talks on seismic petrophysics (Apache), the geophysics of Shale Plays (Devon), and Multi-component seismic (Anadarko). In addition, our speakers have been SEG Distinguished Lecturers and SEG Honorary Lecturers. We have also added a new Special Interest Group (SIG) on Microseismic. This group meets over lunch at Apache’s office and has had excellent attendance and talks.

 

Finally, the GSH will possibly be moving offices and has hired new staff as we dissolve our shared office and staff arrangement with the HGS. We are exploring several options for space opportunities including staying in our current office.

 

In conclusion, the state of our local society is strong, and we are rapidly moving to provide more services to more people in the Houston area and beyond. Our goal is to support you in your career development. Use the services we provide and encourage your fellow Geophysicists to do likewise and to join our dynamic organization. Have a happy and prosperous new year!