Wow, what a fantastic time! Seeing such an engaging two-day event at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) was exciting. Firstly, I thank everyone who attended the symposium honoring Matt Hall. The collaboration between the participants and the speakers was a joy to watch. Hats off to Gabino Castillo and Norbert Van De Covering (technical committee), who assembled an outstanding group of presenters. Organizing and delivering a comprehensive and technical solid program is no easy task. Norbert and Gabino exceeded expectations. I thank all the first-day presenters for their time producing and sharing their practical knowledge and real-life experiences with Python. Brendon Hall, Rafael Pinto, Cody MacDonald, Niven Shumaker, Chiran Ranganathan, Venkatesh Anantharamu (Venki), Tim Brown & Cable Warren.
The first-day evening reception at the HMNS Gem and Minerals Hall was an excellent opportunity to network after a rewarding day of talks. David Kring (USRA) gave an outstanding talk on Artemis Lunar Exploration. The presentation very much captivated the audience and generated an informative discussion.
The second day consisted of a hack-a-thon run by our honoree Matt Hall. Wow! The engagement I saw from the hack-a-thon teams was outstanding. Identifying a need, then solving the problem using Python was a motivating sight to see. The teams had to present their work at the end of the day, and I witnessed a strong display of collaboration and teamwork.
Also, on the second day, the Gulf Coast SEG Challenge Bowl saw student teams compete to win an opportunity to represent in the Challenge Bowl final at SEG Annual Conference. Congratulations to the winning student team from the University of Houston, Julio Garcia & Liannaly Alvarado. Thank you to Mike Yates for being the Challenge Bowl host and Peter Duncan with Lillian Jones for organizing the event.
Jackie Ming was the spring symposium committee chair with Lillian Jones, Peter Duncan, Katie Fry, Gabino Castillo, Norbert Van De Covering, and myself (Simon Voisey). Jackie spearheaded this great team and successfully executed an excellent two-day symposium. The entire team worked immensely hard to organize the event, and their efforts paid off because the symposium was an incredible experience for all participants. Also, a thank you to Kathy Sanvido (GSH office), who managed the registrations and administration of the symposium.
Finally, I would like to thank all the sponsors. Your contribution allowed this event to happen. OXY (Diamond), Chevron (Gold), Dug (Gold), Shell (Gold), Geosoftware (Silver), PGS (Silver), TechLimit (Silver), Byte Link Systems (Bronze), Earth Signal Processing (Bronze), TGS (Bronze), Ikon (Food sponsor & booth), MicroSeismic (Program) & Lumina (Additional Sponsor).