UH Student Teams Win First and Second Place

UH Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS) students, Elita de Abreu and Venkatesh Anantharamu, won the regional finals at the 8th Annual Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) Gulf Coast Challenge Bowl. The competition took place on March 11 during the Geophysical Society of Houston-SEG Spring Symposium in Houston, honoring the contributions of EAS geophysics professor Dr. Fred Hilterman.

The SEG Challenge Bowl is an international contest testing students’ breadth and depth of knowledge about the field of geoscience. The quiz show format features intense competition as the contestants attempt to buzz in first with the answers to challenging geoscience questions.

Five teams competed at the event, representing the University of Houston and Rice University. Peter Duncan, President and CEO of Microseismic, Inc., in Houston, was the master of ceremonies and judge. After the first elimination round, two teams from the University of Houston and one from Rice University advanced to the final round.

The first place team of this regional Challenge Bowl (Anantharamu and de Abreu of UH) were awarded a travel grant to attend the 84th SEG Annual Meeting to be held October 26-31, 2014, in Denver, Colorado.

Gulf Coast Region Winners

1st place
University of Houston
Venkatesh Anantharamu and Elita de Abreu

2nd place
University of Houston
Joan Marie Blanco and Azie Aziz

3rd place
Rice University
Ara Alexanian and Monica Erdman