Bill Nickerson - 2016
This year the CSEG Symposium posthumously honours Bill Nickerson, a highly-respected, motivated CSEG member who volunteered determinedly so that the CSEG could offer its members quality continuing education programs. Bill’s broad, vast and practical understanding of the oil and gas industry coupled with his rich experiences teaching and studying at university were at the root of his passion. Bill had a vision to organize quality training for Canadian geophysicists and he was the guiding force behind the successful creation of the CSEG DoodleTrain. Bill received the CSEG's Meritorious Service Award in 2005 for his significant contributions to education in geophysics. The Symposium wants to honour Bill as a way of recognizing the strong link behind education and technical excellence in the creation of value oriented geophysical solutions.
The theme for the 2016 CSEG Symposium is Integrity, Knowledge and Wisdom; three words which exemplify the gifted person Bill was. The Symposium will celebrate Bill’s career and his contribution to the CSEG with a day of education; taking an honest look at modern geophysics through case studies.
Full Biography
Bill Nickerson received his B.Sc. from Memorial University, completed his Master’s degree in Geophysical Signal Processing from UBC, and completed his Ph.D. in Geophysical Basin Analysis from Memorial University.
He started his geophysical career on the seismic boats of eastern Canada and after that moved on to work for Amoco, Chevron and then spent 11 years at PanCanadian (later Encana); serving on the international peer-review team, conducting in-house geophysical training courses and drilling of more than 100 wells ranging from low-risk multi-zone domestic gas wells to high-risk sub-salt wells in deep water Gulf of Mexico. He also consulted with numerous companies, both in Calgary and internationally.
He was elected as the SEG council member for District 5 (Canada and Greenland) in 2004 and as the CSEG director of continuing education in 2007. The CSEG Doodle Train continuing education week was founded by Bill and he was eventually awarded the Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists Meritorious Service award in 2006 as a result of his dedication to education and his volunteerism. Furthermore the DoodleTrain is the envy of other societies, as shown by efforts in trying to generate similar Continuing Education opportunities. Bill also served the CSEG as Technical Chairman for the CSEG convention in 1999, as Chairman of the "Pitfalls in seismic interpretation" workshop at the CSEG convention in 2001 and as Past Chairman of the CSEG Continuing Education Committee. This service to the CSEG went well beyond a standard level of volunteering and reflected both Bill’s lifelong passion with the science and education of Geophysics.
Bill presented more than 30 industry training courses in seismic interpretation and seismic methods to geologists, geophysicists, engineers and technologists in Bolivia, Canada, Norway, the U.K. and the United States. He had a deep commitment to continuing education and was a patient and gifted teacher. The CSEG has set up the "Bill Nickerson Education Award" to be awarded annually.
We lost Bill on March 21st, 2015 after a lengthy illness but he will be fondly remembered by many, including members of the CSEG, for a long time.
