News Release, Kansas Geological Survey, Sept. 5, 2001
The donation comes from Seismic Micro-Technology, a corporation headquartered in Houston, Texas.
The donated software is primarily used for analyzing seismic data, information that is used to produce an image of subsurface geology. Seismic techniques are commonly used in oil exploration, pollution studies, and in other applications.
The donated software was used, for example, during the Survey's study of natural gas movement in Hutchinson last winter. Scientists used the software to display seismic data that had been collected in the area and to help pinpoint underground rock layers that might hold natural gas.
The software was also employed in studies related to oil-producing rocks and by students in classes taught in the KU geology department. Survey geologist Tim Carr even used the software in applying ground-penetrating radar to locating burial sites and Civil War artifacts at the Kansas State Historical Society's Mine Creek Battlefield site near Pleasanton, Kansas.
"This is an example of industry and academia cooperating to create a win-win situation," said geophysicist Ross Black at the department of geology at the University of Kansas. "Students are the big winners here. Faculty win because they can design higher quality courses for students, and their research capabilities are enhanced. The industrial partner wins because the students, most of whom will be employed in industry, are familiar with their products."