A University of Lethbridge alumnus inspired by scientists who set off large test explosions at Suffield, Alberta within hearing distance of his family farm near Milk River, Alberta -- and who is currently a leading geophysics expert at the University of Alberta -- is the U of L’s 2008 Alumnus of the Year.
Dr. Douglas Schmitt BASc (BSc) ’80, a Canada Research Chair in Rock Physics and Time-lapse Geophysics at the University of Alberta, will receive his award at the 2008 Fall Convocation ceremony, which takes place Saturday, October 18, 2008 beginning at 9:30 a.m. in the 1st Choice Savings Centre for Sport and Wellness.
The University of Lethbridge Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus/a of the Year Award recognizes individuals for exceptional professional achievements, academic excellence, and/or contributions to society.
Schmitt’s research involves time-lapse geophysics field studies and laboratory rock physics research designed to increase understanding about the motion of subsurface fluids such as oil. Schmitt’s goals for his on-going research projects are to gain valuable insights into improving production strategies for the oil industry, and to better monitor greenhouse gases in subterranean reservoirs.
Background information about the Alumnus of the Year award and Dr. Douglas Schmitt can be found below. To learn more about Dr Schmitt’s research, please visit his website: http://www-geo.phys.ualberta.ca/~doug/
The University of Lethbridge Alumni Association will host a reception to Dr Schmitt on Saturday, October 18 following the convocation ceremony. For more information, contact the Alumni Relations office at 403-317-2825 or alumni@uleth.ca.
For general information on the 2008 Fall Convocation, please visit this website: http://www.uleth.ca/ross/convocation/fall.html
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Dr. Douglas R. Schmitt BASc (BSc) ’80
2008 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR
Douglas Schmitt, currently a professor of geophysics and physics at the University of Alberta, began his interest in science at the age of five, inspired by scientists who set off large test explosions near his family farm in Suffield, Alberta.
In 1976, Douglas Schmitt embarked on his academic journey at the University of Lethbridge where he was active in the Residence Students’ Association. He graduated with distinction in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics. Upon graduation, he worked as a petroleum exploration geophysicist in Calgary, Alberta.
In 1981, Douglas Schmitt attended graduate school at the California Institute of Technology, assisted by an Alberta Heritage Foundation scholarship, and completed his doctorate in geophysics in 1987. Douglas Schmitt did his post-doctoral research at Stanford University before beginning his career with the Faculty of Science at the University of Alberta in 1989.
As a professor of geophysics and physics at the University of Alberta, he is held in high esteem by his students for the exceptional care and effort that he dedicates to them.
In fact, nearly all of the geophysicists who received an undergraduate degree from the University of Alberta during the past decade are alumni of Douglas Schmitt’s Geophysics Field School, which he has run for many years on and around his family farm in southern Alberta.
As a recipient of the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship in 1996, Douglas Schmitt dedicated a year to research at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany before returning to his professorship at the University of Alberta. In 2005, he was a visiting scientist at the Research School of Earth Sciences at Australian National University in Canberra.
In 2002, Douglas Schmitt was appointed to a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in recognition of his pioneering research of rock physics and its application to time-lapse ‘4D’ geophysical monitoring. Douglas Schmitt leads a team of highly skilled field and laboratory researchers who are well respected for their development and use of sophisticated ultrasonic equipment on rock to study how seismic wave speeds change with pressure and fluid content.
Douglas Schmitt’s research group applies this knowledge to field-scale experiments where large seismic sources are used to find and monitor changes in the physical properties of rocks hiding at depth in the earth.
Their research yields valuable information with important implications from better management of hydrocarbon production in the oil industry, to the search for new mineral and water resources, to the safe geological sequestration of green house gases, and to the safety of mine workers worldwide. Douglas Schmitt’s team has worked on several scientific drilling projects throughout the world, in locations as varied as Africa, Finland, and Antarctica.
Douglas Schmitt is also spearheading a new project that involves scientific drilling into the deep permafrost of Canada’s Arctic regions.
Douglas Schmitt serves locally as a member of the Board of Examiners of the Association of Professional Engineering, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta, nationally on a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada grant selection committee, and internationally on the Scientific Technology Panel of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. He currently directs the Institute for Geophysical Research, a multidisciplinary group of geoscientists at the University of Alberta.
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