News
James Carmichael and David Herman win DGS Student Challenge Bowl
IMAGE 2022
Achievement Award
Best Paper IMAGE 2021
Dr. Jim Simmons, Dr. Ali Tura, Matthew Copley, Joseph Stitt, SEG President Anna Shaughnessy, Sima Daneshvar, and Andrea Damasceno
2024 GRADUATE James Carmichael
MS Geophysics
Where are you from?
Austin, TX
What work did you do at Mines? DJ-Basin Postle Field Study, Utilization of multi-angle inversion analysis to evaluate natural fracture systems
What are your plans after graduation? Working at Agapito Associates, Inc. as Sr. Engineer
2024 GRADUATE Joe Cherayil
MS Geophysics
Where are you from?
San Francisco, California
What work did you do at Mines? Noise separation methodologies for DAS VSP data
What are your plans after graduation? Working at ExxonMobil, Houston, as a Geophysicist.
2024 GRADUATE Burak Erdinc
MS Geophysics
Where are you from?
Ithaca, NY
What work did you do at Mines? For my thesis, “CO₂ Geo-Sequestration in the Lakota Formation, Powder River Basin, WY, USA” I evaluated quantitative Carbon sequestration modeling through coupled geo-mechanical modeling and injection simulation and high resolution seismic inversion analysis.
What are your plans after graduation? As a multidisciplinary geophysical engineer, I contribute to the Energy and Sustainability Management team at Cornell University, working on the development of the DOE-funded Earth Source Heat geothermal well system designed to heat the campus. My responsibilities include interpreting drilling, logging, and geophysical data to prepare the project for future phases. I also play a key role on the design team, addressing technical challenges during project execution and evaluating potential data acquisition plans.
2024 GRADUATE Martis James-Ravenell
MS Geophysics
Where are you from?
Philadelphia, PA
What work did you do at Mines? DFOS Fiber Breakage precursor indicators during real-time hydraulic fracture monitoring.
What are your plans after graduation? Nedlands, Western Australia
2024 GRADUATE David Herman
MS Geophysics
Where are you from?
Briarcliff Manor, New York
What work did you do at Mines? Detailed analysis of long-term CCUS monitoring in a proposed CCUS site utilizing high-resolution seismic inversion.
What are your plans after graduation? Working at OXY, Houston, as a Geophysicist.
2023 GRADUATE Mari Held
MS Geophysics
Where are you from?
Great Falls, MT
What work did you do at Mines? In my MS thesis I evaluated PP-PS 4D time-lapse response in the Edvard Grieg Field, North Sea. By comparing the original 3D baseline survey to Monitor 1 (2018) and Monitor 2 (2020), we were able to map production and injection fluid movement and differentiate pressure and saturation response throughout the field. In my work, I was able to quantify the pressure and saturation mapping using production data within the field.
What are your plans after graduation? Working at Continental Resources as a Geophysicist.
2023 GRADUATE Eric Hillman
MS Geology
Where are you from?
Midland, TX
What work did you do at Mines? At Mines, I worked on integrating full-bore formation micro-imager (FMI) data for Niobrara reservoir characterization within the Postle area of Wattenberg field, Colorado.
What are your plans after graduation? I am now a Field Engineer II with Liberty Energy, and my primary responsibility is to ensure that frac jobs are being pumped to design.
2023 GRADUATE Moacyr De Souza Bezerra
PhD Geophysics
Where are you from?
Espirito Santo, Brazil
What work did you do at Mines? In my PhD thesis I addressed converted wave processing and interpretation from the Jubarte PRM project – offshore Brazil, focusing on receiver coupling corrections and their effects on 4D attributes such as NRMS and its relationship to physical phenomena such as shear wave splitting. I also worked with machine learning techniques to estimate shallow seafloor P- and S-wave velocity models using post critical arrivals.
What are your plans after graduation? Returning to Brazil and work with Petrobras as a exploration geophysicist.
2023 GRADUATE Youfang Liu
PhD Geophysics
Where are you from?
Jiujiang, China
What work did you do at Mines? My thesis is the application of multicomponent seismic data and distributed acoustic sensing data for unconventional reservoir development. I also enjoyed building a reservoir model using petrel and performing AVA inversion for rock property estimation using Hampson-Russell.
What are your plans after graduation? I will be with Chevron as a geophysicist / machine learning engineer in Houston, TX.
2022 GRADUATE Liwei Cheng
PhD Geophysics
Where are you from?
Taipei, Taiwan
What work did you do at Mines? At Mines, I was working on advanced formation evaluation methods incorporating rock physics models and Bayesian inversions. In addition, I advanced the Marchenko method to a land application in the Middle East.
What are your plans after graduation? I am now with ExxonMobil as a geoscientist in the unconventional technology development team.
2022 GRADUATE Joe Mjehovich
MS Geophysics
Where are you from?
Sacramento, California
What work did you do at Mines?
- Quantitative analysis of low-frequency distributed acoustic sensing data for hydraulic fracture characterization.
- Seismic site classification using distributed acoustic sensing.
What are your plans after graduation? I will be working for IFDATA as a Geophysicist, where I will continue research and development in fiber optic sensing technology.
2022 GRADUATE Xiaoyu (Rosie) Zhu
MS Geophysics
Where are you from?
Nanjing, China
What work did you do at Mines? Hydraulic fracture characterization in the Niobrara and Codell formations of the Denver-Julesburg Basin using low-frequency distributed acoustic sensing. I also worked on event detection for low-frequency DAS using machine learning.
What are your plans after graduation? I will be moving to Rice University in Houston to continue as a Geophysics PhD student!
2022 GRADUATE Kagan Kutun
PhD Petroleum Engineering
Where are you from?
Mersin, Turkey
What work did you do at Mines? I worked on fracture modeling in support of EGS COLLAB and high-resolution modeling of fiber optic distributed temperature sensing (DTS) for horizontal wells.
What are your plans after graduation? I am working at NREL as a Geothermal Reservoir Engineering Post-Doc.
2022 GRADUATE Aleksei Titov
PhD Geophysics
Where are you from?
St. Petersburg, Russia
What work did you do at Mines? Quantitative analysis of distributed acoustic sensing data for time-lapse vertical seismic profiling and multiphase flow monitoring.
What are your plans after graduation? I will be working as a geophysicist focusing on the application of distributed fiber-optic sensing for enhanced geothermal systems at Fervo Energy.
Congratulations to Owen Huff on receiving Honorable Mention for Best Paper in The Leading Edge in 2020 for his paper “Validating the origin of microseismic events in target reservoir using guided waves recorded by DAS”.
(https://doi.org/10.1190/tle39110776.1)
Due to the special velocity structure of the Eagle Ford formation, only the microseismic events inside or close to the reservoir excite strong guided wave energy, which DAS can capture and identify. This method differentiates events that are most related to stimulation and production, significantly reducing event location uncertainty. This method also makes it feasible to use a single straight fiber to locate the microseismic events significant to Eagle Ford optimization.
Owen defended his Master’s thesis in May 2021 and became a proud RCP alumnus. We wish him great success in his future career!
The March 2022 issue of Hart Energy’s Oil & Gas Investor featured an article covering RCP’s current research program.
August 29
Dr. Ali Tura: A new method to realize dynamic reservoir properties from 4D seismic data: A North Sea application, TL1 1: Advances and Case Studies, 8:50 AM
Peiyao Li: Predicting fracture-hit time and location: A Cross-well strain-based early warning system, STUD P2: Student Poster Session 2, 10:20 AM
David Herman: Static modeling and characterization of deep saline aquifers with limited data for carbon sequestration, STUD P4: Student Poster Session 4, 10:20 AM
Burak Erdinc: 3D characterization for CO2 geo-sequestration using a high-resolution seismic survey: Powder River Basin, Wyoming, USA, STUD P1: Student Poster Session 1, 11:10 AM
Dr. Ali Tura: The CCUS landscape and vital role of geophysics, SS 3: Recent Advances and the Road Ahead: Hot Topics in Geoscience 1, 2:10 PM
August 30
Ana Garcia-Ceballos: Monitoring a gas hydrate field with distributed temperature Sensing for long-term well integrity, BH P1: Borehole Geophysics for Carbon Storage, 11:10 AM
Dr. Yanrui Ning: Coupled fluid-geomechanical modeling for a large-scale CO2 sequestration project in Southern Colorado, CO2 2: Modeling and Simulation, 1:45 PM
Samara Omar: Imaging the horizontal components of OBN data, SP P8: Elastic, Diffraction, and Marchenko Imaging, 4:55 PM
August 31
Peiyao Li: DAS-recorded P wave generated from perforation shot: an insight from numerical simulation, DAS 2: Seismic Analysis and Inversion, 10:45 AM
Dr. Yanrui Ning: Investigation on the azimuth variation and propagation of hydraulic fractures using low-frequency distributed acoustic sensing (LF-DAS), DAS 3: Low-frequency DAS and Strain Sensing, 1:45 PM
Dr. Ali Tura receives Distinguished Lecturer 2021 at IMAGE Conference
THE COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES GEOPHYSICS DEPARTMENT IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE AN ONLINE ENERGY GEOPHYSICS CERTIFICATE
The Petroleum Geophysics Certificate fills the gap between a graduate degree and an industry course. It is taught by industry-renowned Mines faculty with vast experience in the technical areas. Fully on-line, deployed world-wide, and with Mines course credits, this certificate can be extremely valuable for the individual and for any company that wants an in-depth education for staff and management at an exceptional value.
