July 10, 2011

2011 Scholarship Awards

The Directors of the KEGS Foundation are very pleased to announce the awarding of twenty scholarships totalling nearly $15,000 to eleven undergraduate and nine graduate students in geophysics at fifteen Canadian universities for the forthcoming academic year (2011/2012).

Marking the twelfth year of the KEGS Foundation’s scholarship program directed at fostering the education of future geophysicists in Canada, the level of awards in 2011 is very comparable to the previous year, thanks to the continued strong support by the geophysical and exploration community across Canada, reflecting the continuing high activity of the resource sector.

The 2011/12 scholarship awards include the following:

• 11th award of the scholarship established in 2001 to honour Heikki Limion;

• 7th award of the KEGS Pioneers Scholarship established to honour various noted Canadian geophysical pioneers*;

• 6th award of the BCGS scholarship funded by the BC Geophysical Society;

• 4th award of the Fugro Scholarship established by Fugro Airborne Surveys**;

• 4th award of the GSC Pioneers Scholarship launched at Exploration 07 to honour the geophysical pioneers of the GSC***;

• 2nd award of the WAMIC Geophysics Scholarship, previously awarded by the now disbanded Women’s Association of the Mining Industry of Canada Foundation.

The eleven undergraduate recipients of KEGS Foundation scholarships for 2011/12 are:

Benjamin Kary, University of British Columbia

Filip Medinac and Pamela Patraskovic, University of Toronto

Ryan Nader, Carleton University

Ankar Sheng and Ubong Udoumanah, University of Manitoba

Adrian Smith, University of Western Ontario

Jessica Steeves and Erica Vertefeuille ®, Queens University

Christine Shiels ® and Hoai Nam Vien, University of Saskatchewan

The nine graduate recipients of KEGS Foundation scholarships for 2011/12 are:

Ebube Azomani, Memorial University

Majid El Baroudi ®, Universite de Laval

Raymond Caron ®, Carleton University

Innocent Ezenwa, University of Western Ontario

Janet Hart, University of Windsor

Michal Kolaj, Laurentian University

Karol Rohraff, University of Alberta

Ramin Saleh, University of Toronto

Peter Tschirhart ®, McMaster University

The amount of each scholarship awarded ranges from $500 to $1000, depending on merit, need and available Foundation funds, with renewals of prior awards denoted by ®.

In particular, the following awards of named scholarships are noted with pleasure:

• The recently established WAMIC Geophysics Scholarship has been awarded to Erica Vertefeuille, a fourth year student at Queens, in recognition of her academic achievement, indicated career interest in mining geophysical exploration, and involvement in geoscience organizations;

• The KEGS Pioneers Scholarship* has been awarded to Ankar Sheng, a fourth year student at the University of Manitoba, in recognition of his academic excellence and career focus on mining geophysics;

• The BCGS Scholarship has been awarded to Benjamin Kary, who will be completing his BSc(Hons) degree at UBC, on the basis of his academic achievement and focus on mining geophysics methods;

• The Fugro Scholarship** has been awarded to Michal Kolaj, PhD candidate at Laurentian University, in recognition of his outstanding academic record and his focus on developing improved EM techniques;

• The GSC Pioneers Scholarship*** has been awarded to Majid El Baroudi, who is pursuing a PhD degree at Universite de Laval focused on developing an improved tomographic approach to characterizing the electrical properties of permafrost and the upper thawed layer, in recognition of his academic achievements, broad geoscience interests, and demonstrated research capabilities conducive to important new geophysical insights.

• The Limion Scholarship has been awarded to Ryan Nader, 4th year student at Carleton University, based on his academic excellence and career focus on mining exploration geophysics.

As in prior years, the KEGS Foundation also expects to offer scholarship recipients significant additional support in the form of travel bursaries totalling $2500 to enable them to attend future KEGS symposia and related events as well as the annual PDAC convention in March 2012, in order to increase their awareness of current geophysical practices and new developments, and to develop important contacts with the global exploration community.

Two additional students (Kanita Khaled, UofT and Chelsea Squires, Memorial) have been given relevant book awards to enhance their appreciation of the diverse applications of exploration geophysics.

In addition to the above, the following related scholarship awards to Canadian students are noted with pleasure:

• Sarah Devries, graduate student at UBC, has received one of the three Stan Ward scholarships awarded by the US-based SEG Foundation;

• Danica Pascua, 4th year geology student at the University of Toronto, was selected by the CMIEF as the initial recipient of the John Steers Field School Bursary.

The Directors extend their congratulations to all the above scholarship recipients as well as heartfelt thanks to all whose generous contributions have enabled the Foundation to maintain its important scholarship program****. This program has now cumulatively provided support to more than 135 students in geophysics, many of whom are now actively employed in exploration in Canada. Renewed giving by concerned individuals and companies is again encouraged to sustain this important program for succeeding years.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Jerry Roth, Chair

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*NB: The KEGS Pioneers Scholarship is supported by donations generously made in honour of pioneering Canadian exploration geophysicists Tony Barringer, John Boniwell, Duncan Crone, John Dowsett, Tom Gledhill, Phil Hallof, Norm Paterson, Mike Reford, George Sander, Harry Seigel, Ray Whitton and, most recently, Wally Boyko and Bob Fraser.

**The Fugro Scholarship was generously established in 2008 by Fugro Airborne Surveys (Canada) to encourage and support geophysics students focused on advancing the development and application of airborne geophysical techniques, and to acknowledge the many pioneers whose efforts and creativity have led to the current impressive capabilities of airborne geophysics.

***The GSC Pioneers Scholarship was launched at Exploration 07 to honour pioneering geophysicists at the Geological Survey of Canada, notably Len Collett, Arthur Darnley, Peter Hood, Larry Morley, George Palacky and Quentin Bristow.

**** Particular thanks are extended for recent major contributions by HudBay Minerals, BCGS, KEGS, Fugro Airborne Surveys (Canada), Teck, DeBeers Canada, Scintrex, Crone Geophysics, Lamontagne Geophysics, Peter Kowalczyk and Laurie Reed, and by Northwest Mining, Merrex and the Steers family for the JESteers Bursary.

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