Seismic Soundoff

"If you can't communicate, you can't succeed."

What does it take to prepare geophysicists for careers where technical knowledge alone is no longer enough?

Heather Bedle, the 2026 SEG Outstanding Educator Award recipient, believes students need strong scientific foundations alongside communication skills, creative thinking, and an understanding of how their work affects people. Her industry experience shapes that approach, while her work directing the University of Oklahoma's Sustainable Energy Systems program brings students into conversations beyond their disciplines.

Heather explains why AI makes independent judgment more important, how public concerns can determine whether energy technologies are adopted, and why exposing young people to geoscience remains a difficult challenge for the profession.

QUESTIONS THIS CONVERSATION ANSWERS
> How should geophysics education adapt to AI without weakening scientific understanding and independent judgment?
> Why do communication and interdisciplinary thinking matter for the adoption of technologies such as carbon capture and geothermal energy?
> How can geoscientists help younger students discover a field they may never encounter in school?

RELATED LINKS
* Honors and Awards: SEG 2026 Honors and Awards Citations; The Leading Edge (2026) 45 (8): 560–573. https://doi.org/10.1190/tle45080560
* AASPI Teaching Videos at https://www.youtube.com/@AASPI.

ABOUT SEISMIC SOUNDOFF
Seismic Soundoff showcases conversations addressing the challenges of energy, water, and climate. Produced by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and hosted by Andrew Geary of 51 features, these episodes celebrate and inspire the geophysicists of today and tomorrow. Three new episodes monthly. See the full archive at https://seg.org/resources/podcast/.

"We take a position on can the science address the issue? If so, then we'll take a stand on the science."

Geophysics is reaching into more areas than ever, from traditional energy exploration to critical minerals, groundwater, carbon storage, and even space exploration. What does that mean for the professional society connecting the people doing this work?

SEG President Rocky Detomo discusses how the society is adapting to a broader profession, with more than 60% of its members now outside the United States. He explains why the underlying science still connects these different applications, how AI is changing the skills geophysicists need, and why learning from scientists across industries and generations matters.

As SEG approaches its 100th anniversary, Rocky considers what the society must preserve and what needs to change.

Read his President's Page article at https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/seg/tle/article/45/9/625/770513/President-s-Page-Geophysics-at-the-center-of.

QUESTIONS THIS CONVERSATION ANSWERS
> How can SEG remain relevant as geophysics expands into new industries and applications?
> How should geophysicists balance AI capabilities with scientific fundamentals and professional judgment?
> Where should SEG draw the line between scientific independence and political neutrality?

ABOUT SEISMIC SOUNDOFF
Seismic Soundoff showcases conversations addressing the challenges of energy, water, and climate. Produced by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and hosted by Andrew Geary of 51 features, these episodes celebrate and inspire the geophysicists of today and tomorrow. Three new episodes monthly. See the full archive at https://seg.org/resources/podcast/.

"In your academic work, you just have to do your work and you get your grade for your work. Now we're leading a team where when any other member of the team fails, the whole team has failed."

SEG EVOLVE asks students to take on challenges that go well beyond graduate coursework. Tobechukwu “Toby” Ude-Akpeh, Chukwudi Onyeakusi, and Papa Kwesi Eshun share how their 10-person international team tackled the Sleipner carbon storage project while navigating missing data, unfamiliar software, demanding deadlines, and four time zones.

They explain how industry mentors and faculty advisors helped them overcome technical obstacles, connect their work to economic decisions, and prepare to defend their recommendations at IMAGE.

Building on their The Leading Edge article, "Across continents and time zones: How Team Hyperville made global collaboration work," the students reveal why EVOLVE demands so much, what makes its mentorship valuable, and how professionals and universities help make the experience possible.

Read the TLE article at https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/seg/tle/article/45/7/548/732557/Student-Zone-Across-continents-and-time-zones-How.

Learn more about SEG EVOLVE, including its Energy Exploration and Carbon Solutions tracks and opportunities to participate as a student or mentor at https://seg.org/programs/student-programs/seg-evolve/.

QUESTIONS THIS CONVERSATION ANSWERS
> What makes SEG EVOLVE more demanding and rewarding than traditional graduate coursework?
> How do industry mentors and faculty advisors help students solve difficult technical problems and develop professional judgment?
> What do students gain from leading international teams and presenting their work to industry professionals at IMAGE?

ABOUT SEISMIC SOUNDOFF
Seismic Soundoff showcases conversations addressing the challenges of energy, water, and climate. Produced by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and hosted by Andrew Geary of 51 features, these episodes celebrate and inspire the geophysicists of today and tomorrow. Three new episodes monthly. See the full archive at https://seg.org/resources/podcast/.

“If you keep training on what people have already discovered and what’s already been identified, then you’re gonna be limited in what you can actually come up with.”

AI is very good at finding patterns in seismic data. The harder question is whether those patterns make geological sense.

Nancy House remembers looking at a Gulf of Mexico seismic line after years of working in an overthrust regime and initially seeing a thrust fault. It wasn’t. Her regional experience had shaped what she saw. That is exactly the kind of mistake AI can make if pattern recognition gets separated from geological context.

Nancy connects that problem to two years of work with the GeoGPT governance committee, where the questions are just as unsettled: what knowledge trains these systems, how proprietary data is protected, and who should set the boundaries as the technology keeps changing.

QUESTIONS THIS CONVERSATION ANSWERS
> How can interpreters tell when AI has recognized geology and when it has only recognized a familiar pattern?
> Could training AI on existing interpretations limit the ability to identify genuinely new geologic possibilities?
> What role should professional societies play in governing geoscience AI?

ABOUT SEISMIC SOUNDOFF
Seismic Soundoff showcases conversations addressing the challenges of energy, water, and climate. Produced by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and hosted by Andrew Geary of 51 features, these episodes celebrate and inspire the geophysicists of today and tomorrow. Three new episodes monthly. See the full archive at https://seg.org/resources/podcast/.

“The goal is not cheaper data. The goal is to spend less on everything that does not add value to the decision one is trying to make.”

Low-cost monitoring is becoming less about cheaper sensors and more about designing geophysics around the decision that needs to be made.

Guest editors Erkan Ay and Joël Le Calvez use the The Leading Edge special section, "Low-cost monitoring for oil and gas production and emerging energies" to show what that looks like in practice, from DAS that makes fracture monitoring viable without a dedicated monitoring well to targeted measurements that act as an early-warning system.

Their argument is especially relevant in a tight-budget environment. Monitoring can become more routine and accessible, but only if geophysicists measure the right physics, automate intelligently, and remember that data itself is not the product. Decisions are.

Read June's The Leading Edge special section at https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/tle/issue/45/6.

QUESTIONS THIS CONVERSATION ANSWERS
> How can monitoring shift from repeated full-field imaging to targeted, decision-driven measurements?
> When can DAS and simpler monitoring systems make projects observable that otherwise would go unmonitored?
> Why should monitoring cost be judged by the actionable information it produces rather than acquisition cost alone?

ABOUT SEISMIC SOUNDOFF
Seismic Soundoff showcases conversations addressing the challenges of energy, water, and climate. Produced by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and hosted by Andrew Geary of 51 features, these episodes celebrate and inspire the geophysicists of today and tomorrow. Three new episodes monthly. See the full archive at https://seg.org/resources/podcast/.