AMOS NUR, the Wayne Loel Professor of Earth Sciences, Emeritus, has won the Maurice Ewing Medal, presented at the recent annual meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists in San Antonio, Texas. The Ewing Medal is the highest award given by the society, and recognizes contributions to advancing the science and profession of exploration geophysics.
Nur is known for his innovations in 3-D and 4-D seismic imaging for oil and gas production and is regarded as one of the world’s top academic authorities on rock physics. He joined the Stanford geophysics faculty in 1970 and founded the university’s Rock Physics and Borehole Geophysics Project in 1977, remaining its director until his retirement in 2008.
He directed the Bing Overseas Studies Program at Stanford from 2000 to 2005. In 2007, he co-founded Ingrain, one of the world’s three independent digital rock physics laboratories. He joined the company as its director and chief technology officer following his retirement. Nur has published more than 240 papers and a number of books, and has advised 51 doctoral and 20 master’s students.
Nur acknowledged his students and colleagues for their roles in the decades of research that led to the award during his acceptance speech in San Antonio, saying, “My main role was to initiate and seed projects, but you were the ones who discovered new effects, got new results, created new models and developed new applications.”
- By Sarah Jane Keller
