By Rolando Garcia
Natural Sciences and Mathematics

Pioneering seismic research at the University of Houston that could unlock vast deposits of oil deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico and improve exploration worldwide has earned two young scientists one of the most prized international awards in geophysics.

The Society of Exploration Geophysics names up to three recipients annually of the J. Clarence Karcher Award, an honor given to geophysicists under the age of 35 who have already made major contributions to the field.

This year both of the winners – Bogdan Nita and Haiyan Zhang – are recognized for research they conducted within a seismic research program at UH’s physics department. This is the first time one school – let alone one program – has swept the Karcher awards, said Arthur Weglein, the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor in Physics and director of UH’s Mission-Oriented Seismic Research Program (M-OSRP).

The awards will be presented Oct. 25 in Houston during the society’s annual conference.

“A defining characteristic of a top tier university research program is high-impact, game-changing fundamental research, and receiving this kind of international recognition for our graduate students and young faculty is an indication of their research quality and impact,” Weglein said.

M-OSRP is a research group comprised of UH faculty, researchers and graduate students focused on fundamental advances in seismic processing and imaging that will give energy explorers a clearer picture of what lies deep beneath the Earth’s surface and help recover hard-to-find oil and gas deposits.

Nita was a post-doctoral researcher and research assistant professor with M-OSRP and Zhang was a physics Ph.D. student at UH when they conducted the research that earned them the Karcher Award. Nita is now a math professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey and Zhang is a part of the research department at ConocoPhillips.

Weglein’s students have received six Karcher awards, including four since he arrived at UH in 2001.

The awards are prestigious and prized in the petroleum exploration field – companies and universities often tout the number of Karcher winners on their staffs and faculties.

Both Zhang and Nita were involved in M-OSRP’s long-term project to improve seismic imaging methods to peer beneath the salt reserves under the Gulf of Mexico. Nita focused on removing “bounces” or multiples from seismic waves while Zhang’s work gave researchers a better picture of a seismic imaging target’s rock and fluid properties.

Nita and Zhang will be recognized at the Society’s award ceremony Oct. 25, which kicks off the group’s week-long conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center.