Evert Slob
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| PhD university | TU Delft |
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Evert Slob has contributed key scientific and technological advances in electromagnetic interferometry in a series of papers from 2007 to 2013. He is a contributor to the development of Marchenko imaging.
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The 2020 SEG Reginald Fessenden Award [1]
by Roel Snieder, Kees Wapenaar, and Sven Treitel
Evert Slob has contributed key scientific and technological advances in electromagnetic interferometry in a series of papers from 2007 to 2013, although these papers represent only a small selection of his 120-plus publications. What is clear from this body of work is the power of Slob’s basic theoretical understanding and his ability to create entirely novel areas of theory and methodology that were previously beyond the reach of most in academia or industry. Evert Slob also devotes a significant portion of his scientific endeavors to support, engage, and mentor students and postdoctoral scientists.
Biography Citation for the 2020 SEG Reginald Fessenden Award
Evert Slob is an eclectic researcher who has published 128 research papers in leading journals, including Geophysics. His book Introduction to Controlled-Source Electromagnetic Methods, coauthored with Anton Ziolkowski, is published by Cambridge University Press. Evert’s research is extremely broad and includes important contributions to the field of seismic interferometry. In this field of research, one reconstructs the waves that propagate between two receivers by cross- correlating the signals generated by sources located on a surface that surrounds these receivers. Evert showed that when the sources are placed on a surface between the receivers, one can extract the waves propagating between these receivers by convolving the waves recorded on these receivers. Evert has been instrumental in extending the concepts of seismic interferometry to electromagnetic fields, and he has been among the early researchers to point out that the field of seismic interferometry has its roots in early work on fluctuations in electrical systems.
A limitation of seismic interferometry in its earliest formulations was that the concept was formulated for systems that conserve energy, which precluded geophysical applications to electromagnetic fields where the electrical conductivity leads to a loss of field energy. This limitation can be overcome largely by using multidimensional deconvolution that Evert developed with coworkers from Delft University of Technology. This method not only helps overcome limitations imposed by the dissipative nature of electric fields and seismic waves, it also is a powerful tool to utilize Marchenko imaging for seismic waves. Multidimensional deconvolution also helps strip away the imprint of the overburden in controlled source electromagnetics (CSEM). Evert also showed that synthetic aperture methods can be applied to CSEM fields, which makes it possible to steer these diffusive fields, a technique that was deemed to be impossible.
Evert has also been a great contributor in the area of Marchenko imaging. With his colleagues at Delft, Everthasbeenactiveinpushingthisnewfieldofresearch forward. One of his contributions in Marchenko imaging is, once more, related to dealing with dissipation, which he published in Physical Review Letters, a leading physics journal. This development is not only important for seismic applications; it also opens an avenue to apply Marchenko imaging to electromagnetic fields. The principle and implementation of Marchenko imaging has been difficult to communicate to the geophysics community because of its difference from traditional imaging methods. Evert’s 2014 paper in Geophysics is one of the clearest papers on Marchenko imaging.
Evert’s contributions go beyond his research. He has a mindset of service and has exemplified this mindset in many different ways. He was associate editor of Geophysics from 2009 to 2013 and editor in chief from 2013 to 2015. Within the Delft University of Technology, Evert was director of education for Civil Engineering and Geosciences from 2014 to 2018. He serves as chair of the Career Development Committee at Delft. Evert served on the executive board of the IDEA-league MS program. In this program, a cohort of MS students travels between a number of European universities taking classes and doing research. Because a number of institutions are involved, this program requires an intense coordination effort. Evert makes an incessant and empowering contribution to the growth of young researchers. He does this by providing them with research guidance and advice, but his contribution goes much further. Evert is a true “people magnet.” He not only guides students in their research; he also acts as a mentor for students — even those who don’t work with him. Most impressive about Evert is his ability to combine his research talents and warm interpersonal skills with a modesty that belies his achievements.
Biography 2013[2]
Evert Slob received an M.Sc. (1989) in mining and petroleum engineering, and a doctorate (1994) in applied sciences from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). In 1995, he joined the Department of Applied Earth Sciences, TU Delft, where he is a professor of geophysical electromagnetic methods and director of studies of Applied Earth Sciences in the Department of Geoscience & Engineering. He was the 2012-2013 assistant editor for GEOPHYSICS and associate editor for Near Surface Geophysics. His current research interests include EM interferometry, advanced imaging and inversion techniques, hydrogeophysics, heterogeneity determination, and soil characterization including the study of fundamental relations between geologic and EM and electrokinetic properties. He has published 95 international peer-reviewed journal papers on these subjects. He was the general chair of the 10th International Conference on GPR in 2004. He organized more than a dozen international workshops and conference sessions and was guest editor for 11 special journal issues on GPR and hydrogeophysics.
