OM DENNE EPISODE
In this episode of Beneath the Subsurface we introduce our Geoscience and Data & Analytics intern teams for our summer internship program. Erica kicks off the episode with Jason and Sri talking about how the programs have come about and changed overtime here at TGS, how they select and recruit for the program, and the scope of the projects that the internships tackle this summer. Erica then spends time with both teams of interns discussing the experience in the program, what they’ve learned, and everything they’ll be taking away and applying back to their studies and upcoming careers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
00:00 - Intro
00:50 - Team Leader Segment with Jason and Sri
01:09 - The Geoscience Internship Program
04:42 - The Data & Analytics Internship Program
07:29 - Advice for Program Applicants
11:54 - Data & Analytics Intern Team Introductions
13:32 - The D&A Summer Projects
15:18 - Lessons Learned Pt. 1
17:20 - The TGS Internship Experience Pt. 1
20:24 - Future Careers
21:41 - Advice for Future Interns & Reasons to Apply Pt. 1
24:34 - Valuable Take Aways Pt. 1
26:01 - Geoscience Intern Team Introductions
28:36 - The Geoscience Summer Projects
31:33 - Lessons Learned Pt. 2
33:14 - The TGS Internship Experience Pt. 2
34:12 - Advice for Future Interns & Reasons to Apply Pt. 2
39:28 - Valuable Take Aways Pt. 2
EXPLORE MORE FROM THE EPISODE
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Erica Conedera:
00:12
Hello and welcome to Beneath the Subsurface a podcast that explores the intersection of geoscience and technology. From the Software Development Department here at TGS, I'm your host, Erica Conedera. This time around, we'll be chatting with our newest batch of intrepid students in TGS' dynamic and immersive internship program. As you will hear, they are a diverse group of future innovators from around the world. They bring with them a wide range of skills and interests and work together to collaborate on exciting real world projects. We'll start our conversation today with a quick introduction from the leaders of our internship program. I'm here with Sri Kainkarayam, the data science lead and Jason Kegel with the geoscience team who heads up the geoscience intern program. And we're going to talk a little bit about the internship programs. Jason, how has this program changed in the last five years?
Jason Kegel:01:09
When we first started the program, I want to say 2013, 2014, it was out of the Calgary office in Canada. The interns there were mainly from some of our Calgary schools nearby. And then it started to grow 2014, 2015 to include some of our Texas schools, UT, Baylor, University of Houston. As it's grown, we've decided to add more projects and more sort of interesting work to the projects. We've also been able to bring on some of our original interns into roles within the company. So over the last five years, I'd say the biggest thing that's grown is the, the number of interns. So in Calgary, when this first started we had one intern and then that same intern came back a second year and we brought another one on. And then we got one in Houston. And then as that grew, we had a couple in Houston and a couple in Calgary.
Jason: 02:09
And then the past couple of years we've had four each year. So we had four last year and four this year. So we've really been able to sort of guide new projects around that to where we can really include their schoolwork and what they're doing in their university work with what we're doing here at TGS and hopefully build a sort of cohesive project for them to work on. And that's sort of the struggle with a lot of internship projects that we've done over the past years is to incorporate what they want to do as students and as interns and as their career grows, with what we'd like to see them do and encourage them to do within TGS.
Erica:
02:49
Does that go into the consideration of which interns you end up picking, what their specialties are or what they're looking to do with what you need?
Jason:
02:58
No, not necessarily, a lot of the times the interns, so for example, last year we were working very closely with a couple of schools that we wanted to bring data into. So some of our production data our Longbow group into with the University of Lafayette. So we were working really closely with a few professors out of that school and a few professors with UH. So we had recommendations from the professors themselves with students that they thought might work nicely with us with - in terms of their knowledge of data already and their knowledge of well log use and seismic, so they can kind of jump in running without having to learn too much in the beginning, without too much of a learning curve. So in aspects of that, and that's, that's more that we look for. So the, the professors we're working with, along with how long it will take them to, to get up and running with things.
Jason:
03:51
Our current group of students is sort of a more advanced set of students who are working on their PhDs or in their later years of their master's degrees. So they've already seen a lot of these areas and worked with a lot of the data. So we do look for sort of more advanced students now, whereas when we first started the program, we were, we were happy to get anybody, some people that were not sure if they were going to be geoscientists, but you know, we're in the geoscience program with their bachelor's and that was okay too. I think we still got a lot out of having them here, working with us. but as we've grown, we've been putting them on more and more advanced projects and they've really been able to help out.
Erica:
04:29
Cool, sounds like they've added a lot of value.
Jason:
04:30
They definitely do. And it's nice to have sort of fresh faces around in the summertime and, and it really, really fills in for everybody that goes on vacation in the summer.
Erica:
04:39
(Laughter) Right? Awesome.
Jason:
04:39
The office doesn't seem so empty.
Erica:
04:42
Awesome. So for the data analytics team, the internship program is new. I think this is your first batch of interns, correct Sri?
Sri Kainkaryam:
04:57
Yes. So the data science team started sometime around November, 2017 so this is, although this has been our second summer, this is our first batch of interns that are projects, both, trying to test out novel algorithms, novel approaches, also try and apply ideas from high performance computing to building workflows, and also try and build sort of, user interfaces or ability to, deploy these for various users. So, there are broadly three buckets in which these projects fall into. And, it's an, it's, it was an interesting time looking for an intern because data science as, as a domain is, sits at the intersection of sort of three, broadly non intersecting sets, right? So geoscience, computing as well as machine learning or deep learning and folks having adequate background in all three of them, they sort of fit the -the mold of a good intern.
Sri:
06:02
So it was in some sense was a little hard initially to try and find an intern. So I think we have a talented group of interns working on two of the broad offerings that we have right now. One of them is Salt Net, that is trying to interpret salt bodies from seismic images, and one is called ARLAS that is curve completion and aspects of petrophysics that can be done on, on wells that are available in an entire basin. So, it's, it's been four weeks into the internship program and the interns, the interns are pretty smart. They're motivated and it's been a fun experience so far.
Erica:
06:43
Is it a 12 week program in total?
Sri:
06:46
It's around a 12 week program. Some of them I think are here for a little longer than that. So, one of them is, trying to build a tensorflow port of our salt network flow because tensorflow community comes with a bunch of advantages such as, like, ability to deploy, it also comes with a JavaScript library called tensorflow JS that that makes it easy to do machine learning in the browser. So we want to make use of that infrastructure and the community built infrastructure. And that's one of the reasons why, one of the interns is spending time trying to build, trying to put our workflow in onto tensorflow.
Erica:
07:29
So if you guys had some advice to give to people looking to get into the internship program, would you have anything you'd want to let them know?
Sri:
07:37
So from the perspective of data science internships, given that how fast the field is moving, especially for students looking for data science internships in, in the space of oil and gas, the first and foremost thing is having an ability to understand various aspects, various various sources of data or aspects of data in the upstream domain. Because, just to give you an example, somebody who's worked on deep learning of natural images throughout, the moment you try and apply similar algorithms onto seismic images, it's a completely different domain. So, what are the, what are some of the assumptions that you can make? And that's where having a strong domain background really helps.
Sri:
08:30
And I think the second thing that is, that's becoming very important in the marketplace right now is, is with, with platforms like GitHub or, you know, various open source projects. You can actually showcase your code. So pick a problem, learn a few, learn some approaches or try out some novel approaches, and put out the code out there. Put that on your resume because that adds a lot of weight, in your, in your ability to make a case for an internship rather than somebody who hasn't, who says, oh, I have, I have a strong programming background, but there's no way for somebody who's evaluating the person to see the code. So that these days has become a really strong advantage for, for a lot of students. So a couple of the students that are working with us this summer, they actually have active GitHub profiles where they've posted code, they've contributed code, various projects and so on. And as a consequence, like we looked at their profiles and backgrounds and like, oh, this is an obvious fit to our group and this person also has a background. A couple of them were like Ph.D students in geophysics, so it's an obvious fit for our team. So it was, it was all, it was a no-brainer for us to get them to come work with us this summer,
Erica:
09:53
Jason?
Jason:
09:53
On the geoscience side, it's, it's quite a bit different really. A lot of the students that are in university going for, for geoscience and wanting to go into the oil and gas industry have mainly just academic experience. So we really just want somebody that can sort of get up to speed quickly with sort of what an explorationist in an oil and gas company would do is look at essentially what we're bringing them in to do is what a sort of a mini, really quick exploration studies on basins where they don't have to go full on to drill a well, but they still need to have the ideas behind it where they can use the data, they have to evaluate an area and come up to speed quickly with, with getting those presentations out. So having really good presentation skills and having just a background enough to be able to learn on their own and pick up concepts quickly really helps. We see that a lot with, since we do get a lot of our interns through their advisors at different universities, that that really helps. But it also doesn't hinder it. We've also had lots of students that have applied, that have came from different universities where we don't know the advisors and it's just a matter of them going through the interview process and showcasing that they're, they're able to get to speed quickly. So, anybody can really go, go and do this type of work if they have the, the ability to learn.
Erica:
11:14
Awesome.
Sri:
11:14
I think that's an interesting point that Jason brought up. The ability to learn things fast and, sort of the ability to, appreciate various data sets and trying to understand and bring them together. I think that's a huge advantage for, for students. And based on my interaction with students in our group as well as Jason's group, I think TGS this summer has a fabulous group of interns.
Erica:
11:43
Okay. Well thank you guys for talking to us about the internship program and we're very happy to talk to your respective groups and see what they have to say. Thank you.
Sri:
11:52
Thank very much.
Jason:
11:53
Thank you.
Erica:
11:56
I'm sitting here with our first group of interns from the data and analytics group. To my left, we have Michael Turek from Florida State University. His major is computer science. He has a B.S. In computer science as an Undergrad. What are your career goals? What are you working towards?
Michael Turek:
12:15
Yes. So part of me taking an internship here at TGS was to help figure that out. And so, well, you know, my interests rely mostly in machine learning and things like this. So something pretty, along those lines.
Erica:
12:31
Awesome. Well we hope you, we'll help you figure that out. While you're here. Going around the table, we have Lingxiao Jia from the University of Wyoming. Your major is geophysics and you're working towards your PhD studying seismic imaging, migration and inversion. What kind of career are you working towards?
Lingxiao Jia:
12:50
I plan to work as a Geoscientist in the oil and gas industry.
Erica:
12:56
Awesome.
Lingxiao:
12:56
Yeah, I like to do programming, so mostly on that.
Erica:
13:06
Cool. All right. And then to my right, we had Deepthi Sen, from Texas A&M, majoring in petroleum engineering, working towards your PhD, studying reservoir engineering. What's your career goal, Ms. Deepthi?
Deepthi Sen:
13:21
I'd like to, get a full time employment in the oil industry, preferably working on something related to machine learning in reservoir engineering. So yeah, that's why one of the reasons why I'm here too.
Erica:
13:33
Awesome. Yeah. Oh, we're glad all of you are here. So can you guys describe for us, the projects you're working on? I'm not sure if you guys are all working on the same project or if you're working on different projects.
Deepthi:
13:45
We are working on different projects. So right now I'm working on something which, involves clustering well logs, into good and bad, sections.
Deepthi:
13:57
I use machine learning and a few algorithms that I use for my graduate research too.
Erica:
14:04
Very cool. What's a bad section?
Deepthi:
14:07
A bad section as in, there are certain depths at which, certain well logs behave erratically so we want, do not want to use that data, so we have to cluster it out. So, in order to do that manually for, you know, thousands of wells, it's impossible. So that's where machine learning comes into play.
Erica:
14:27
Very cool. Very useful too. Lingxiao?
Lingxiao:
14:32
I'll be working on using machine learning to do the recognition of geoscience features. For example, there could be faults, it could be picking horizons, could be recognizing salt domes, something like that.
Erica:
14:48
Wow. Very complex and over my head. (Laughter) I'm sure it's very important though. And you, sir?
Michael:
14:57
Yeah, so I'm working on translating the models that TGS' data analytics team uses to predict salt patches in the earth. So they use, they use models written in a module called Pi Torch and I'm converting that to tensorflow 2.0
Erica:
15:17
Cool. Very cool. So what have you guys learned along the way so far? I know this is kind of the beginning for you, but-
Michael:
15:28
Yeah, so it's, it's somewhat difficult to- so much, is kind of the answer to that question. But a lot of what I've learned boils down to more of the theory side of machine learning. Coming into the internship I didn't know a whole lot about the backend of machine learning, mostly just applying it. So learning how all these models work and why they work and things like that in terms of, the actual actually applying machine learning. That's what I've learned. I've also learned though, perhaps more importantly, working with a team and collaborating and things like that, which has been-
Erica:
16:10
So hands on, real-world experience. What do you guys say to that? Ladies, I should say (Laughter) to my right.
Deepthi:
16:17
So as I said, the research that I do is again, on machine learning. So I get to use similar algorithms to another, I would say facet of oil and gas. So I worked in reservoir engineering back in Grad school. Here I'm working on, petrophysics, so I kind of see how the same algorithms and same concepts can be applied in two different, areas, which is quite eye opening. Yeah. And apart from that I'm learning new algorithms and learning new math, which, I would think that's very important for, for my Grad school too, so, one good thing about TGS is that, they are quite, you know, they don't mind, publishing. So as a PhD student, that's very important to me. So that's one thing I look forward to too.
Erica:
17:08
Yeah. Awesome.
Lingxiao:
17:10
For me, it has helped me get a deeper understanding of how much, how machine learning works and how it could be applied to the field of Geo Sciences.
Erica:
17:20
Cool. So talking about TGS more broadly, like as a culture, how would you say it's like working here, if someone were to ask you from school, what's it like working at TGS? What's that company like? What would you say?
Deephti:
17:36
It's a very friendly atmosphere and, it is different from Grad School, in the sense that, I think Grad School, hours are more flexible than in an industry environment. But then, the focus is different and this is more, you know, I would think this more social than Grad school and, you know, being here, this is my first internship in the US, the environment is very friendly and you know, people look out for each other it's great.
Erica:
18:15
Cool.
Lingxiao:
18:15
Yeah. People here are so helpful and the, I have had a great time. I really enjoy this internship by far. Yeah.
Erica:
18:26
Awesome.
Michael:
18:26
It's wonderful. You're working in small teams and so you get to know everyone pretty well. It's very tight knit and those people are smart and very helpful kind people. It's, it's, it's wonderful.
Erica:
18:37
Cool. Any surprises along the way? Anything you weren't expecting?
Michael:
18:44
So, no, I wouldn't say there's anything that surprised me. I mean apart from the environment I had a much more perhaps rigid definition of, you know, you go to work and do your job and that's kind of that, but it's much more relaxed and that was, I guess, somewhat surprising.
Erica:
19:01
Okay. I like that. Yeah. How bad the drive was maybe?
Deepthi:
19:06
Yeah, I stay close by.
Erica:
19:09
That's good. That's the way to do it. (Laughter) Yeah. What are you guys looking forward to for the remainder of your internships?
Michael:
19:17
Yeah, so I'm looking forward since I'm rewriting these, these models and an interface for them, it'll be exciting to see them, how they perform and also to actually see the data and analytics team using them and hopefully finding them useful.
Erica:
19:31
Yeah to see value for what you're working on. Absolutely.
Deepthi:
19:34
So I'm about to finish the first part of my project, so I would like to wrap it up, you know, produce some good results and maybe get a publication out of it. And after that, yeah, I have a plan for what is to be done next, regarding the same, using the same similar approach but in a different setting. Yeah. So I'm looking forward to that.
Erica:
19:59
Can you tell us what the different setting is or is that classified?
Deepthi:
20:03
I'm not sure. (Laughter)
Erica:
20:05
Right. We'll leave that one alone.
Lingxiao:
20:08
So doing an internship here at TGS is an amazing adventure. I learn and discover new things everyday and I feel time passes very quickly, and everything is moving at a timely manner. So it's pretty good.
Erica:
20:24
Nice. So I think we kind of touched upon how you guys are going to apply what you've learned here, at your careers as you go forward. Is there any particular job title that you guys think you're going to go towards?
Deepthi:
20:44
Yeah. I probably will be going for a data scientist role, or I can say because of my background in reservoir engineering, I can go both on the data and science roles or the reservoir engineering roles. But yeah, from my experience here, I would, I think I would prefer to go to the data and data science roles because, there are like lots of opportunities out there and, the experience that I've gained here, I, I think it's going to be very helpful finding a full time position later on. Yeah.
Lingxiao:
21:18
I could consider becoming a Geoscientist in the oil and gas or becoming a structural engineer because I have a programming background.
Michael:
21:32
Yeah. I wouldn't say I have any career title I'm, I'm seeking out, but perhaps data scientist, but I'm not sure.
Erica:
21:41
So what advice would you give to the interns who are going to be coming behind you?
Michael:
21:46
Yeah. So probably to just build strong relationships with the team that you're in. Learn as much as you can, as deeply as you can.
Deepthi:
21:58
Yeah. I would suggest that before coming in, you can go through, or if they have a set plan for you. In my case they did. So I had read up and you know, known what I'm going to work on so you can, you know, straight away start working on the project you have a rather than, you know, spend a lot of time, reading up those things that can happen before you start the internship. And yes, once you're here, it's, very important to like keep in touch, you know, meet the mentors every day or you know, update them so you have a clear path that you need to, yeah.
Erica:
22:44
Lingxiao?
Lingxiao:
22:44
I would suggest to go talk with people and you see what everyone is working on.
Erica:
22:51
So learn, learn what other people are doing as well.
Lingxiao:
22:55
Yeah.
Erica:
22:55
That, yeah, that makes good sense. So why did you guys apply for the internships here?
Michael:
23:05
So I applied, cause I was just looking for an internship and I had heard that, well I had heard that, (Laughter)
Erica:
23:14
Honest.
Michael:
23:14
(Laughter) I had heard good reviews from people who I respect and and I knew that they had a new data and analytics team doing machine learning, doing things with machine learning. That piqued my interest. And so I told them I was interested.
Erica:
23:28
So kind of diverge off of that. So what programs are you guys using? Like actual hands on programs?
Michael:
23:36
Yeah. So, programs for me are pretty, pretty simple. I use, a coding ID, visual Studio Code, and an Internet browser.
Erica:
23:43
Whoa, okay.
Michael:
23:46
I do that to do my work.
Erica:
23:47
Google and a calculator, alright.
Michael:
23:49
Yeah, pretty much.
Erica:
23:52
Deepthi?
Deepthi:
23:52
Uh, what was the question again?
Erica:
23:56
What programs do you guys use?
Deepthi:
23:59
Again, I guess we are in the process of making a program, so what I use is just Jupyter, it's very basic.
Erica:
23:59
It's built on Python correct?
Deepthi:
23:59
Yes, it is Python, I use Jupyter ID, and I'm in the process of making something useful from scratch.
Erica:
24:22
So lastly, would you guys recommend a TGS internship to your fellow students?
All:
24:27
Yes, definitely. Yes. Yes, yes. Yeah. Awesome. Yes.
Erica:
24:34
Okay. So open question to the table. What are you going to take back to your program that you learned from your internship here? Starting with Michael to the left?
Michael:
24:42
Yeah, so I'm learning a lot about machine learning and so in computer science that's obviously going to be a direct parallel. I can take that back. But I really think that what I'm learning most here that I'll take back is just how to collaborate with people, how to talk with people in a team and work in that way. I think that'll -
Erica:
25:05
Life skills.
Michael:
25:11
Yes.
Erica:
25:11
Lingxiao?
Lingxiao:
25:11
So, since machine learning in such a hot topic. Now, the work that I did here could be really extended into a project in my PhD research. So, yeah I'm currently working on that.
Erica:
25:28
Awesome. Deepthi?
Deepthi:
25:29
So right now we're working on a clustering of time series data. So my, one of the projects that I'm working, at my Grad school is also on time series data, and I think I might be able to, you know, use the insights that I gained from, from TGS, directly to my, research. So that's something that I'm looking forward to.
Erica:
25:52
Awesome. Okay, well thank you guys for talking with us today and I guess we'll let you get back to work now.
Michael:
25:59
Thank you for having us.
Deepthi:
26:00
Thank you.
Lingxiao:
26:01
Thank you.
Erica:
26:01
And now our last group for this episode, the geoscience interns.
Erica:
26:08
Going around the table clockwise, we have Sean Romito. You're from the University of Houston, majoring in geology. You are working towards your PhD and you are studying magnetic basement structure of the Caribbean plate, tectonostratigraphy of South Gabon and Camamu-Almada conjugate basins. I totally know what all of that means. What career are you working towards?
Sean Romito:
26:35
Oh, hello. Thank you for having me. Definitely exploration Geoscientist, this is kind of where I've been propelling my career, ever since I started with a bachelor's and I've just kinda been stepping towards that goal.
Erica:
26:51
Awesome. All right. Now we have Geoff Jackson from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Majoring in petroleum geology. Your program is a master's degree and you graduated last spring. Congratulations!
Geoff Jackson:
27:07
Thank you!
Erica:
27:07
You studied a prospect lead off of a salt dome in southern Louisiana, and you cannot give us any more details than that.
Geoff:
27:14
Unfortunately yes.
Erica:
27:14
Very mysterious. So what, what are your career goals?
Geoff:
27:19
Uh, similar to Sean's I was going to say, I can probably speak for the group here, but we're all just trying to be geologists and getting on with an operator, going to say probably best case scenario.
Erica:
27:28
Awesome. Next we have Hualing Zhang, from the University of Houston, majoring in geology, working towards a PhD. And you're studying structural analysis and gravity modeling in the Permian Basin in West Texas. And you are originally from Urumqi, Northwest China and you got interested in geology about traveling around. That is so cool. So is your career goal the same?
Hualing:
27:53
Yeah, basically similar, I'm working towards a career goal in the oil industry. Yeah. Since, like, my dad is also a geologist. Yeah. He works in PetroChina. So yeah, that's also my career goal.
Erica:
28:08
Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. All right. And lastly, Cahill Kelleghan from Colorado School of Mines, majoring in geology. You're working towards a Masters of science and geology, and you're studying sedimentology and basin analysis / modeling with your thesis being in the Delaware Basin. So career goals?
Cahill:
28:28
I'm pretty similar. I like to be in exploration geology and I really like sedimentology. So yeah, just applied geo science.
Erica:
28:36
Awesome. Cool. So can you describe for us the projects that you guys are working on this summer? Same project or different project?
Sean:
28:46
TGS has kind of tasked us with, I'm putting together some potential prospects or ideas of places we can look and most of that's going to be happening, well, we think it'd be North America and North American basins. And so we've kind of gotten access to some of their pretty amazing software, access to a lot of different databases and kind of putting that all together for a big picture of something useful that they can hopefully use from our projects. So I don't know if you guys want to add anything.
Geoff:
29:15
Yeah, I mean, for one thing with these projects that's been very helpful to leverage the software that TGS has, specifically Longbow and access to their wealth of onshore well data that they have there. So we've been kind of bringing all of that together to generate these areas where we think that we should move further into as a company.
Hualing:
29:40
Yeah. Also the first two weeks we're like working separately. We each have a study area and it's just a information gathering and doing researches and moving forward. Right now we are working in pairs. So, me and Geoff, we are working on similar location and to do like a research in a more detailed way. Yeah.
Erica:
30:05
So you guys mentioned the software programs you're using. So aside from Longbow, what other programs do you use?
Cahill:
30:14
Um, a lot, a lot of work in Kingdom. But Longbow yeah. Longbow and Kingdom. I'd say probably the big two. Yeah. yeah.
Sean:
30:25
Any, I mean, any time you talk about geology, Arc Gis is going to come up. So we've definitely been using that a lot as well.
Erica:
30:32
Okay. And is that different than what you were familiar with, from school or is this the same training that you had?
Sean:
30:39
Well, Longbow is completely different. You know, even looking at production data is not something that I, you know, geoscientists when we ever, we go through academia, we even get exposed to. We use Kingdom. But I think it's, it's more of on a limited basis. I've, I've really been able to work a lot with, the, the well interpretation suites here at TGS that I hadn't worked with before.
Erica:
31:03
Cool. How do you, do you find that challenging or kind of a natural extension of what you are already working with?
Sean:
31:11
I mean, I, yeah, challenging, interesting, different. The team here, the geoscience team here has been very helpful, with the different, features. I'd say there are bugs. Some people might say they're features with the Kingdom software. (Laughter) but I'd say challenging. Yeah, but, but in a good way, not, not as a, you know, wringing out your hands kind of way.
Erica:
31:33
So what else have you guys learned besides Longbow?
Geoff:
31:37
I think for me is just kind of seeing just like what a day-in and day-out sort of process is like. So like having worked in the field, I never walked, I've never worked in a corporate environment before, but just kind of seeing how teams integrate and work together, it's going to say I've never seen that portion before. And so for me it's been fun, you know, going from classroom and then getting the actual hands on application of what we learned in the classroom. That's what's been fun for me so far.
Erica:
32:01
Anyone else agree? Agree, disagree?
Sean:
32:03
I agree. Yeah. No, I mean another thing that I feel a lot of us, especially me and with my Phd projects, they're very wide scale. I'm not talking about basins, I'm talking about plates. And so it's been very rewarding to kind of zoom in. Even if we are still basin scale, that's a lot smaller than I'm used to. So I'm able to kind of get lost in the details more than I would in a very large scale study.
Hualing:
32:28
I think also a good thing is we learn from each other. Like where were you working together? Yeah, we're getting familiar with the software and if any of us found something and others will get around and see what we found. And I think that's very important for us to learn.
Erica:
32:48
Yeah, absolutely.
Cahill:
32:50
Yeah, I think kind of going off that as well and we obviously us for come from different backgrounds in Geo Science and what we've worked in and we kinda bring those backgrounds and each of our own projects and we kind of can come together and help each other out in different areas that we might not be more experienced with, like certain, well log interpretations or mapping things, stuff like that. So, so yeah, it's, it is helpful to have a team.
Geoff:
33:14
Good overlap.
Erica:
33:14
What's it like working at TGS, culture wise? The people, the food?
Sean:
33:22
(Laughter) well they treat us well here
Geoff:
33:24
I was gonna say no complaints there. Yeah, I mean getting started in know there's always a learning curve, but I mean I guess as much of a learning curve as there could be, you know, everyone around here has been as helpful as possibly could be, you know, to help make that climb that much less steep, if that's a good way of wording it. But that's kind of what I would think.
Cahill: 33:43
The food is definitely good. Healthy. I like it.
Sean:
33:45
Can't complain about free lunches.
Cahill:
33:47
Yeah. But, but I mean I think the culture here is really, everyone's been extremely nice and even just within the geoscience team, a lot of nice guys; Cian and Alex, they've been so helpful with any questions we have, whether it be geology related or software related, and we've had company outings already. Going on Top Golf is super fun. Everyone's very open to meeting different branches and whatnot. So that was really fun.
Erica:
34:12
Why did you apply? Did it, for TGS' internship program in particular?
Sean:
34:17
Well. Yeah. So, our professor, me and Hualing, we have the same, advisor at the University of Houston. Dr. Paul Mann. And he was actually the one that reached out to us because, James, the head of the Geoscience Department here, had reached out to him looking for good candidates. and he had asked us if we wanted to, to join up. We, we kind of, you know, we researched it. We, I was, I talked to James on the phone and it just seemed like something, so different from what I was doing at the moment that I felt like it was a great opportunity to jump back. And it, I have absolutely no regrets.
Erica:
34:54
Awesome.
Geoff:
34:54
Yeah, my story is pretty much the same thing. My thesis advisor was, was good friends with James K and so he reached out to me and saying, pretty much the same deal as him. Looked into you guys, obviously cause say Jason, I met you before. So that, and also, the interns from last year, I was going to say I was good friends with them too. So I knew what they did. And so, here I am.
Erica:
35:17
Any surprises along the way? Anything that you weren't expecting that you've encountered during your time here?
Cahill:
35:25
I guess one thing is, it shouldn't be surprising, but I'd always is that I'm working with really big data sets. There's always lots of errors you have to put up with. And even with the amazing technology we have, there's always, there's always a human aspect to it, that's always interesting, that we've dealt with in our data at least so far.
Hualing:
35:44
I think for me it's the flexible working time and my, yeah, he didn't request a specific time to be here or like a specific time to leave. So that's like really helpful for my schedule that I can make adjustment along and try to see by what time range works best for me. Yeah.
Geoff:
36:08
Yeah, that's definitely been nice. I feel, like you said having to commute from Spring. I was going to say, getting to come in maybe later or earlier as need be. It's always definitely nice to dodge that traffic.
Erica:
36:22
What are you guys looking forward to working on for the remainder of your internship here?
Geoff:
36:27
Well, I'm really excited to see the end product of what we're doing, especially because, we're going to be presenting it to upper management, and presenting it to our, our geoscience team as well. I think that's really going to help bringing it all together. Cause right now we know we're all working on our separate areas as well. I mean, we're still two teams in a certain area, but it's still very much our own work. And so that, that finish line I think is going to be where it all comes together and I see more bigger, I see a bigger picture than maybe I'm seeing right now.
Geoff:
36:57
Yeah. I think one aspect that I like about is, it's not just busy work. You know, we're actually adding value to the company with an end result. Kind of like what Sean said.
Erica: 37:06
No making coffee?
All:
37:08
(Laughter) Danggit. For ourselves, we make coffee for ourselves.
Erica:
37:14
Um, what advice would you give to other students wanting to intern here?
Cahill:
37:20
Say like, don't be afraid to get into anything that you're not experienced with. Whether it's geology or software related. Since coming here, I feel like you can learn a lot from a lot of different people and there's a lot of different backgrounds here and people are all open to helping you or talking about their passion and their little branch of geology or geoscience. And so I would say don't be afraid to ask questions and go up to random people and say, hey, what do you do here? And what are you into? Because chances are they're happy or passionate about their job and you can probably learn something from it.
Geoff:
37:54
Yeah. Maybe to add onto those, don't feel like you have to know everything beforehand coming in. Cause I mean you're not, no one's gonna know everything. Kind of like what Cahill said, there's plenty of resources around. You don't feel afraid to ask. No. Everyone out here is more than willing to give their time to help you out for what you might have a problem with. And we've had that reiterated to us time and time again. So, I mean, it's been nice to know.
Sean:
38:17
Hmm. And, I don't know if before we talked about how we got the internship, and I feel personal connections are the biggest, you know, it's not about going on a website and clicking apply. It's about going to the conferences and meeting people from TGS and they're extremely friendly. We've all seen that firsthand. So I'd definitely recommend, and I, I would recommend it as well that you would get an internship with TGS, but just go up and see them during conferences, talk to them, ask them about opportunities, say, Hey, what are you guys doing? Be interested. and even if you don't get something out of it, that's fine. You're still gonna make connection, connections and learn about where the industry's heading.
Hualing:
38:53
Yeah, I definitely agree with Sean, cause I met Alex on with, the person, our geoscience group, we met during the AAPG meeting at San Antonio and I talked to him and, he talked to me about his project and what I may be expecting for my interns. I think that definitely helped. And yeah, when I first day, when I came here, I saw him as, hey, yeah, that's, yeah. I feel like familiar and yeah, I'm more easy to get along. Yeah.
Erica:
39:28
What have you gained during your time here at TGS that you're gonna take with you as you continue your studies and your career?
Sean:
39:36
Everything we just talked about. Yeah, no, I mean that, that's a good sum up question. So the, the connections we've made with all the people here, not just in the Geo science team, every, every other team that there has that there is at this company. All the skills that we're learning with these different programs, the different perspectives we're getting because we're looking at, again, not just geological data, we're looking at, these problems more holistically. All that and above, I think is what we're going to take with us.
Cahill:
40:02
Yeah. I think, you pretty much nailed it on the head. It's seeing the, the geoscience in an actual industry application in its own way. It's a lot of different moving parts coming together for an end product that's ultimately valuable and generates business. And then seeing how that works, you know, if on a fundamental level that's, that's pretty interesting and being able to be a part of, it's pretty cool. So.
Erica:
40:27
Well, awesome. Well, thank you guys for being here. Thank you for talking with us today, and we'll let you get back to work.
