AUSTIN, Texas — UT students in the geological sciences will receive professional hands-on instruction as they tackle the difficult task of “looking” directly into the earth, thanks to Seismic Micro-Technology Inc. (SMT).
UT Austin is one of 17 universities to receive SMT’s KINGDOM Suite software package, part of the Houston-based company’s $8.2 million gift to participating universities that also include Baylor University, Rice University, Texas A&M University and UT San Antonio. SMT also will provide free technical support for the software for the next three years.
The KINGDOM Suite is used by petroleum geologists, geophysicists and engineers to gather information about the earth and predict its properties. Data the software provides is used by miners to determine tunnel direction, by petroleum geologists to determine where to drill and by seismologists tracking faults to predict where earthquakes might occur.
SMT’s gift to UT Austin, which is valued at $697,000, will help faculty train future geoscientists in the scientific principles that result in successful exploration and resource location prediction.
‘William L. Fisher, Ph.D., professor of geological sciences and director of UT’s Geology Foundation Advisory Council, said the software will expose students to the newest technologies available in the industry. “It’s an exceptional piece of software that will be used primarily in undergraduate and graduate classrooms and labs. It has the advantage of running on PC computers instead of large work stations,” he said. “We’re using it now in an upper level undergraduate class to orient students to petroleum work stations. The software is one of the top lines in the market and will allow our students to take advantage of the modern technological revolution.”
