Penny Colton - 2011
CSEG Special Commendation Award Citation for Penny Colton
Citation by Satinder Chopra
It is with great pleasure I would like to share with you the activities and contributions that warrant special recognition for which Penny Colton is being honoured by the CSEG with the Special Commendation Award.
Penny originally comes from Ontario, but spent her grade school years and onwards in Chicago where her family moved. After earning a B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Illinois, Penny enrolled at the University of Chicago for graduate studies in Physics in 1975. However, at the end of the first year as she visited Calgary for a summer job, she was offered a job for uranium exploration in northern Canada. Her interest in the outdoors motivated her to take it up, and so prevented her from returning to Chicago ever again. Thereafter, Penny joined the seismic industry with CGG in Calgary, but soon moved to Dome Petroleum, during the oil boom at the time. Here Penny's assignment was research and implementation of new techniques and she became an expert in VSP and deconvolution. This stint was followed by her moving to the Exploration and Production team after the Amoco-Dome merger took place, where she worked as an interpreter. This valuable experience rounded out her skills and took her to Veritas DGC in the Interpretive/Exploration Services and the Multi-component processing groups. Of particular mention here is her work on extending the bandwidth of seismic data by way of cascaded dipole filters. She is well-versed in the full-range of land and marine reservoir geophysics including processing, exploration, interpretation and all types of integrated petrophysical/reservoir attributes. Because of her breadth of knowledge and experience in all aspects of her profession she stands out as an expert.
While Penny has been dedicated throughout her geophysical pursuits, her desire to lend a helping hand in her personal and professional communities is equally remarkable. She volunteered for 7 years with the Calgary Immigration Development Advancement Society as a drop-in adult ESL teacher, as treasurer and on the board of directors. She has been a mentor to many people, always ready to share her wealth of experience which she just has at the tip of her tongue.
Penny has served the CSEG as treasurer, Director of Educational Services, and as a Member of the RECORDER Committee. She received the CSEG Meritorious Service award in 2000. She has co-chaired numerous conference technical sessions. She was the CSPG Assistant Director Member Services for 2009, and was volunteered for the Geological Association of Canada (GAC) from 2005-2008. Penny also had a brief stint at the APEGGA office and there watched and promoted the interest of geophysicists in the Association.
Over the last several years she has volunteered to take pictures at almost all CSEG functions, whether it is conventions, workshops or symposia. Such high-quality photos find their way into the RECORDER as well as the CSPG Reservoir to be documented for posterity. All these activities demand time and financial investment for the purchase of high-quality digital Nikon SLR camera, which she silently carried out, just for helping our geophysical community. She has devoted her time generously on the RECORDER Committee, whether it is for editing or soliciting articles, photos or coordinating activities in order to bring out the RECORDER issues on time. Throughout Penny's career and service to the community and profession, she has set an example for others to follow. She is a rare individual who consistently follows through when asked to do something and is especially effective in inspiring others.
Penny's friends and colleagues, find her to be the kind of person with whom they would enjoy working again and again. She is a lady of high integrity who has demonstrated technical merit and leadership in her debates on technical or non-technical issues.
Penny is a well-known in the Calgary geophysical community and commands great respect. This award is a well-deserved recognition that the Society has bestowed on her.
