The Directors of the KEGS Foundation are very pleased to announce the awarding of twenty-one scholarships totalling nearly $13,000 to eight undergraduate and thirteen graduate students in geophysics at eleven Canadian universities for the forthcoming academic year (2009/2010), plus book awards to an additional four students.

Marking the tenth year of the KEGS Foundation’s scholarship program directed at the education of future geophysicists in Canada, these awards are very comparable to last year’s record awards, thanks to the continued strong support by the geophysical and exploration community across Canada despite the difficulties experienced by the mining industry and service companies.

The awards include the 9^th award of the endowed scholarship established in 2001 in honour of Heikki Limion; the 5^th award of the KEGS Pioneers Scholarship established to honour various noted Canadian geophysical pioneers*; the 4^th award of the scholarship created by the BC Geophysical Society; the 2^nd award of the Fugro Scholarship established by Fugro Airborne Surveys (Canada) in 2008, and the 2nd award of the GSC Pioneers Scholarship launched at Exploration 07 to honour the geophysical pioneers of the GSC.***

The eight undergraduate recipients of KEGS Foundation scholarships for 2009/10 are:

Thalia Aspeslet and Leo Leon, University of Calgary

Angela Carter-McAuslan, Laurentian University

Emily Fay, Queens University

Jenn Fohring, University of British Columbia

Lindsay Oldershaw, McMaster University

Jonathan Furlong, Oluwatosin Onabiyi and Frank Ryan,
   Memorial University

The thirteen graduate recipients of KEGS Foundation scholarships for 2009/10 are:

Raymond Caron, Carleton University

Eric Ting-Kuei Cho, Linda Armelle Nzumotcha ® and
   Pejman Shamsipour, École Polytechnique

Madeline Lee ® and William Spicer ®, McMaster University

Shervin Gholam-Azad, Memorial University

Lisa Roach, University of Toronto

John Mosquera and Cameron Toy, Waterloo University

El-Mahdi Brakni and Nacim Foudil-Bey, Université du Québec
   en Abitibi-Témiscamingue

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 Limion scholarship has been awarded to Angela McAuslan, who will be completing her undergraduate studies at Laurentian, in recognition of her academic achievement, indicated career interest in mining exploration, and involvement in geoscience and community organizations;

• The KEGS Pioneers Scholarship* has been awarded to Jon Furlong, who will be completing his BSc next year at Memorial, in recognition of academic excellence and focus on mining geophysics;

• The BCGS Scholarship was awarded to Jenn Fohring, who will be completing her BSc at UBC, on the basis of her academic achievement and focus on EM methods;

• The Fugro Scholarship** was awarded to Raymond Caron, MSc candidate at Carleton, in recognition of his focus on airborne applications employing a UAV as well as his broad technical background and academic achievement;

• The GSC Pioneers Scholarship*** was awarded to Pejman Shamsipour, who is pursuing a PhD degree at École Polytechnique developing improved computer modeling protocols, in recognition of his broad geoscience interests, diverse background and demonstrated research capabilities conducive to fundamental new geophysical insights.

In addition, complimentary book awards have been given by the KEGS Foundation to four other students.

As in prior years, the KEGS Foundation also expects to offer scholarship recipients additional support in the form of travel bursaries totalling an estimated $4000 to enable their attendance at future KEGS symposia and related events as well as the PDAC convention in March 2010, in order to increase their awareness of current geophysical practices and new developments, and to develop important contacts with the global exploration community.

In addition to the above, the following scholarship awards by the US-based SEG Foundation to Canadian students are noted with pleasure: Eric-Martial Takougang, who is pursuing his PhD degree at Simon Fraser University, has been awarded the KEGS Hallof Scholarship; Gabriel Walton, who is attending Queens University, has received the KEGS Ontario Scholarship; Elliot Holtham, graduate student at UBC developing improved AFMAG inversion techniques, has received a renewal of the Zonge scholarship; as well as four graduate students (Emmanuel Bongajum, Catherine Robin and Andrei Swidinsky, UofT; and Alexander Duxbury, Carleton) who previously received KEGS Foundation or KEGS scholarships.

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 100 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

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

**The Fugro Scholarship was generously established in 2008 by Fugro Airborne Surveys (Canada) to encourage and support interest by geophysics students in 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 and their contributions 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 and pledges by Vale Inco, BCGS, Fugro Airborne Surveys (Canada) and Len Collett.

Click here for News & Announcements Archives