July 2007 Issue
The Geosciences
President-Elect Supports Role
of Joint CSEG, CSPG Convention
Geoscience groups attract over 4,500 delegates С and
also provide students
with a great introduction to what their careers involve
BY NANICA BROWN
Public Relations Coordinator
Letting it flow was the goal of the Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists in their joint annual convention С and the geoscience community took up the challenge. Over 4,500 delegates flowed into the Calgary’s Roundup Centre on May 14 and 15, taking in technical talks, attending networking opportunities and examining exhibits.
APEGGA was proud to again be a sponsor of the event, which featured 140 exhibitors and 270 presentations. In total, 22 sessions covered topics from exploration and production to unconventional hydrocarbon deposits and fluid flow.
APEGGA President-Elect Gordon Williams, P.Geol., feels strongly that the joint convention provides a valuable opportunity for the Association to communicate with the geoscience community. “Part of APEGGA’s strategic plan involves finding ways to reach out to more practicing geoscientists,” said Dr. Williams, who is also a past-president of CSPG.
“A good way to do this is to participate in technical events, such as the joint convention, that attract large numbers of geoscientists.”
Along with sponsoring the event, APEGGA had its redesigned booth at the tradeshow. The booth had more than 200 delegates visit throughout the convention. Visitors browsed publications, asked volunteers questions about exams and picked up registration packages.
“We were fortunate to have members volunteer to staff the APEGGA booth in the tradeshow area of the convention. They were able to answer many questions regarding the Association and the professions, and provided information based on their knowledge and experience to those who stopped by the booth,” said Dr. Williams.
We had such a positive
response from the students. They had a great time at the convention. Many told
us they had no idea what geoscience was and it was an eye opener.”
Р Hassan Odhwani, Geoph.I.T. 
The 2007 convention also saw APEGGA jointly sponsor the Kids in Science Program with CSPG and CSEG for a second year. Wrapping up on the second day of the tradeshow, the program encourages students in junior high to consider careers in geoscience.
Prior to the convention, presentations on the importance of the earth sciences were made to 215 students in Grade 9 at Sir John Franklin Junior High School in Calgary. Seventy-five students had the chance to par-ticipate in a personal tour of the tradeshow and listen to several keynote speakers during a lunch on site.
“We had such a positive response from the students,” said Hassan Odhwani, Geoph.I.T., who helped coordinate the program. “They had a great time at the convention. Many told us they had no idea what geoscience was and it was an eye-opener.”
APEGGA volunteers also took part in an interactive session with the students. Giulio Scarzella, P.Geol., walked students through a worksheet on APEGGA and the types of careers that earth sciences offer. He focused on the important role that geosciences play in providing not only the everyday necessities such as showers С but teenage necessities, too. Those would be cell phones, by the way.
“Exposing kids to real world applications is essential to the link between what is imagined, what can be and their enthusiasm,” said Mr. Scarzella. “Their interest during the mini-presentations underscored this and I feel very strongly that they are now better positioned to identify and develop their direction in science.”
Students agreed. Many said that they would now consider a future in science, which is an important reason for members to volunteer for outreach activities such as Kids in Science, Mr. Odhwani emphasized.
“I think reaching junior high school students is the key to increasing the number of people in the geoscience community,” said Mr. Odhwani. “Creating awareness at a junior high school level gives students the opportunity to select high school courses such as physics that will make a difference when they try to apply for university courses in geophysics and geology.”