A few thoughts from
past UBC graduatesÉ
"There is still huge demand for
geophysicists in the oil and gas industry as most physics grads appear to be
attracted to other more IT focused areas, particularly out East. This trend and
the decline of the Supermajors' roles in Canada have led to a dearth of younger
people entering the business and busy retirements for the over-50 crowd. However, a geophysics based education
is also excellent preparation for any analytic job wherein a person needs to
develop modeling skills, both forward and inverse, with the ability to sense
when a methodology is right or an answer is reasonable. I believe that this
ability is cultivated in good geophysicists, who must constantly use the right
balance of quantitative rigour and the limited information directly from the Earth.
In short, financial analysts could learn from the geophysicists about the
pitfalls of modeling."
-Andrew Boland, PhD, 1989, Managing
Director for Research, Peters & Co, Calgary
"I joined UBC PhD program in geophysics
a bit more than four years ago. At the time, the price of an oil barrel
was slightly above US$30, the oil industry was not making the headlines
for record profits, and, frankly speaking, I just did not know much about geophysics.
I was just trying to prolonge a student life—way too often under-rated by many
in my opinion!—after undergraduate studies in engineering physics and a
master of science in optics. Well, I did not quite present it this way to
my PhD adviser but you get the idea...
Since that time, I became an active member of
the geophysical community and discovered a really dynamic research area at
the intersection of many others! In fact, I did not really expect, at
first, geophysicists to be so much involved in scientific computing and
use computer resources merely shy of GoogleÕs! I also did not expect the
oil industry to work with the gaming industry to develop processing algorithms
for seismic data on Sony Playstation 3. And thatÕs only a few of the
surprises I had during the course of my studies!
In my research group, the Seismic Laboratory
for Imaging and Modeling (SLIM) led by Dr. Felix J. Herrmann, we are
building our reputation by exploiting more of these connections between
geophysics and areas such as medical imaging, optics, computer graphics,
optimization, and mathematics to list a few. This scientific endeavor is financially
supported by five major oil companies who also provide us with opportunities to
work on real-world problems. Personally, I had the chance to do two internships
with two sponsor companies. It was a fantastic boost for my research and
my career!
A few weeks ago, I successfully defended my
thesis and was chosen by the European Association of Geoscientists
and Engineers (EAGE) to receive the Van Weelden Award 2008. This award is
presented to an EAGE member who has made a highly significant contribution
to one or more of the disciplines in the Association and who is under the age
of 30. Later this year, I will start to work in the San Francisco area for
Chevron Corporation, the world's fifth largest global energy company and
one of SLIM sponsors. I am really looking forward to it and keep thinking that
things could not have gone much better for me!"
-Gilles Hennenfent, PhD, 2008
"The geophysics program at UBC is unique
in a sense that you are able to experience the advantages of both a small
program and being at a big university. The small class sizes encourage the
instructor and students to interact closely and shape the curriculum of the
courses to suit the interest of the students. Also, the freedom within the
requirements of the program allows the student to explore the large variety of
courses offered at UBC and within the faculty of earth and ocean sciences.
Although it is a small program, there is a
diversity of instructors with varied research interests including problems in
deep earth dynamics (mantle convection, seismology, geomagnetism), near surface
geophysics (oil/mineral exploration, consulting), volcanology, glaciology, and
planetary sciences. Additionally, the project and team based upper-level
courses will prepare you to become a professional, no matter what kind of field
you choose to pursue."
-Hideharu Uno, BSc, 2005; Currently
a UBC MSc student working with the NASA MErcury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry,
and Ranging space mission science team