PIONEER WOMEN OF GEOPHYSICSDr. Lucy MacGregor

IN ACTION

Education: Ph.D., Research in CSEM; Bullard Labs, University of Cambridge

Ph.D. Advisor: Prof. M.C. Sinha

Dissertation Topic: Controlled source electromagnetic sounding of the Reykjanes Ridge near 58° North.

First job as a geoscientist: Post-Doctoral Researcher and Green Scholar, Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, California

Ways Lucy makes an impactEducation and First Job• Involved in the early development of CSEM and multi-physics approaches

for characterizing fluids at mid-ocean ridges • Part of the team that performed the first ever CSEM survey for hydrocarbon

applications, along with scientists from Scripps and Statoil. Later based at the National Oceanography Centre, UK; her work contributed to NOC being awarded an SEG Distinguished Achievement award

• Co-founder of Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping (OHM), a commercial spin out from NOC, set up to commercialize CSEM technology

• Developed and promoted quantitative multi-physics analysis methods in the hydrocarbon industry as a way of characterizing subsurface structure

• SEG honorary lecturer for Europe in 2011 – the 30 lectures spanned not only Europe, but Australia and China, bringing discussion of CSEM and multi-physics analysis to students and geoscience professionals

• Supervised 7 PhD students at Cambridge, Southampton, Imperial College, Heriot Watt, and has taught courses on marine CSEM methods both in the academic and commercial sectors.

How Lucy is employed• October 1997 - October 2000: Research Fellow of Downing College,

Cambridge, working in the Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge University

• Researched the use of controlled source electromagnetic data in applications such as subsalt imaging on continental margins. Developed and applied the first 2.5D inversion to survey data from an active hydrothermal system.

• October 2000 – February 2003: NERC Research Fellow in the School of Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, UK.

• Researched applications of active source EM sounding methods in sensing hydrocarbon reservoirs and conducted six industry-funded surveys in the field.

• February 2003 – present: Chief Technology Officer, Rock Solid Images• Responsible for RSI’s technology development, application and IP

portfolio and strategy. Her technical team develops and applies workflows for the integration of multiple geophysical data types.

The result of the first ever multi-physics characterization of a mid-ocean ridge combining seismic, CSEM and MT data. Lucy

performed the CSEM analysis.

Lucy and her team preparing for recovery of a deep-towed CSEM transmitter

Lucy adjusting a prototype electric field receiver before a test deployment

Lucy during operations from early applications of CSEM in the oil

industry

Lucy presenting while on her SEG honorary lecture tour in Israel

Lucy continuing her lecture, which was hosted in Israel by Tel Aviv

University and Paradigm