A Word from the Board

Kurang Mehta, 1st Vice President

November 2025

The Geophysical Society of Houston is a vital technical society that offers a convenient stage for geophysical collaboration across Houston. It is growing to become popular not only within the US, but also overseas. A key reason for the continued success of the Society is the collective effort of all the Board members and the broader geophysical community.

As First Vice President, I am honored to be a part of this important society. Embarking on this journey a few months ago, it was my privilege to lead the effort in pulling together a successful Fall Forum on Oct 16, 2025, titled “From Waveforms to Insights – Latest Developments in Processing, Inversion and Artificial Intelligence”.

With the momentum created at the Fall Forum, my goal is to continue bringing high-quality geophysical discussions at the monthly Technical Lunches and SIG presentations. For a sustained line-up of speakers, GSH always welcomes professionals who would like to give a technical presentation in any of the above technical series. Regular follow-up discussion and high-quality potential collaboration has been a key outcome of these technical events.

April 2026, our next Spring Symposium is going to honor Tom Smith. Several volunteers have already signed-up to help with the Spring Symposium – thank you very much! With our seminars, events, and workshops, GSH is facilitating and accelerating the spread of cutting-edge geophysical technology and enabling learnings from each other’s geophysical experiences.

In addition to organizing good-quality technical events, GSH is constantly striving to spread the word on energy sustainability and technical outreach, especially for our younger generation geophysicists. It is important that we bring emerging professionals into the mix and actively transfer our technical knowledge and leadership skills to them. This also includes working collaboratively with other societies such as HGS (Houston Geological Society) and SEG (Society of Exploration Geophysicists).

Skills that will be needed in the near future will be very different from what is required at this time. It is important to bring in younger geophysicists and offer them opportunities to volunteer or take on GSH roles to keep them engaged and up-to-date on the latest technological developments; making it easier for them to build/acquire the necessary skill sets of the future.

It is my honor to take on the role as First Vice President of GSH during the year 2025-26. In this capacity, my focus will always be to uplift the technical knowledge-level and let GSH be a safe space for both experienced and younger professionals to have meaningful geophysical discussion. With the Fall Forum behind us, and the Spring Symposium coming up in April 2026, I am in the middle of my term. This has allowed me not only to learn the current state of the GSH but also focus my effort on the mission and make progress implementing the vision of this important technical society.

I would like to conclude by requesting all geophysicists within Houston (and outside) to become a member of GSH and actively participate in the technical events organized throughout the year. By working together and learning from each other, we can keep up with the fast-changing world of technology and find a place for geophysics in the future. GSH will continue to be an enabler for innovation, collaboration and knowledge-transfer. I appreciate everyone who has helped me and GSH in this very exciting growth journey.