The Directors of the KEGS Foundation are very pleased to announce the awarding of twenty-one scholarships totalling nearly $13,000 to nine undergraduate and twelve graduate students in geophysics at eleven Canadian universities for the 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 offers 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

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Download the 2009 Scholarship Awards announcement in PDF format.

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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 Frazer.

**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 WAMIC, BCGS, Fugro Airborne Surveys (Canada), Abitibi Geophysics, and Chris Nind.

KEGS Foundation Update, March 2009

As was noted in summary comments at the KEGS Breakfast on March 3 and more extensively at the subsequent AGM, the KEGS Foundation is currently marking the tenth year of its scholarship program directed at renewing the cadre of exploration geophysicists in Canada.

Thanks to the sustained generosity of the geophysical and exploration community, the Foundation in its initial decade has supported more than 70 students with awards totaling more than $70,000, while at the same time steadily increasing its endowment funds to approximately $80,000 (which support the Limion, KEGS Pioneers, BCGS, GSC Pioneers and, most recently, Fugro scholarships).

In the current year, the Foundation is supporting a record 21 students (10 undergraduate and 11 graduate students) at nine universities across Canada, as detailed in the announcement of scholarship awards issued last July. Thanks to renewed support by Sander Geophysics twelve of these students attended the KEGS Breakfast (along with the two current recipients of the Don Salt scholarships from the University of Toronto), as seen in several photos from the Breakfast.

Despite the unavoidable collateral impact of the global economic recession, the KEGS Foundation anticipates offering at least a dozen scholarships to qualified students in geophysics for the forthcoming academic year (2090/2010), thanks to continued generous contributions, while at the same time, adhering to its ultra-conservative investment policy, the Foundation anticipates pledged gifts that will bring it close to its target of $100,000 in total endowments as it approaches the end of its first decade.

Additional details on the Foundation’s programs and activities as well as donation and scholarship application forms can be found elsewhere on the Foundation’s website. The Directors welcome any questions re the Foundation’s scholarship program and donation aspects.

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