Student Research Symposium and Expo

This course is designed for students interested in the concept of source-to-sink in sedimentary geology and how it might be useful to infer past climate change and tectonic processes from sedimentary rocks. The course is designed at an accessible level for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students who are not sedimentary geologists—but are interested in the topic—or sedimentary geologists who are just beginning their research. The material will be presented through lectures, and also hands-on exercises, to provide some practical experience. Students should bring a laptop, and if possible have Google Earth Pro installed, but no other materials are required.

This short course is designed to address the mistakes that practitioners commonly encounter when they interpret well logs, errors that can quietly propagate into biased porosity estimates, incorrect water saturations, and ultimately flawed pay calls. Instead of relying on idealized textbook examples, the course uses real-world, imperfect log suites to teach participants how to recognize and correct common “gotchas” before proceeding to any substantive petrophysical interpretation. Emphasis is placed on a practical, repeatable workflow for log QC and interpretation, with particular focus on unit awareness, curve conditioning, normalization, and defensible assumptions.

The course covers the fundamentals of the most commonly used logs (gamma ray, resistivity, density–neutron, sonic, and caliper), and may also include additional measurements, such as NMR, image logs, and other specialized logs, IF time permits. However, each topic is framed through the lens of a typical failure mode: what the issue looks like on log tracks, why it occurs (acquisition, borehole environment, or processing), how it biases interpretation outputs, and how it can be prevented or mitigated using a concise checklist. Representative examples include neutron unit and matrix-scale confusion (limestone vs sandstone vs dolomite scaling; v/v versus percent; legacy curve mnemonics), density unit mishandling and inappropriate matrix density assumptions, improper gamma ray or resistivity normalization across wells and tool vintages, depth mismatches between logging passes, failure to account for caliper-derived borehole conditions, invasion effects, shoulder-bed and thin-bed averaging, uncritical mixing of log vintages, and reliance on default Archie parameters without calibration.

By the end of the course, participants who have limited prior exposure to log analysis, will be able to (1) quickly triage a log suite for usability, (2) apply robust preprocessing steps (including unit checks, curve conditioning, normalization, and depth alignment), (3) compute baseline interpretations (Vsh, porosity, Rw, Sw, and net pay/NTG) while avoiding common traps, and (4) document assumptions and uncertainty in a manner that is auditable and decision-ready.

This short course introduces the fundamentals of 3D seismic interpretation, including horizon mapping, seismic-to-well ties, time-to-depth conversion, and some of the advanced quantitative methods applied to oil and gas exploration and development, CCUS, and geothermal site characterization. The course is delivered primarily through hands-on exercises using commercial interpretation software. It is designed for geoscience students seeking to enhance their geophysical skill set