SPWLA Houston Chapter recipient of the 2009-2010 BEST CHAPTER AWARD

September 2010,

For the last 10 years we have been focused towards serving our membership, with a current headcount of almost 700 active members, we hold three monthly meetings at our Downtown, Northside, and Westside locations. On average our meetings are attended by 50 members in each location. We also keep our members engaged by organizing a Spring Topical Conference in May of each year featuring a range of speakers on a particular topic of interest such as formation testing, unconventional reservoirs, and shaly‐sand evaluation. In December of each year, an annual “Software, Computing, and Vendor Show” highlights computer software, hardware, and services that aid and expedite interpretation by petrophysicists, geologists, or anyone else who looks at logs.

Additionally, we have made the commitment to provide venues for our members to meet and to share experiences. For the last 3 years, we have organized an annual Golf Tournament, hosting around 70 players every year. Furthermore, we have created vehicles in the Internet for our members to network, to interact with each other, and to form professional relationships.

Over the last few years, we have also moved towards becoming more digital by developing a new website, using e‐mail marketing system to manage our e‐mail list, send meeting announcements, and conduct board elections. We went from a printed newsletter to a greener digital version which reaches more members and maintains advertising revenue at lower operating costs.

Last year we helped to organize the highly successful 2009 annual symposium at the Woodlands in which the SPWLA celebrated its gold anniversary under the theme “Petrophysics: Past, Present, and Future". Despite an imploding oil industry and a worldwide economic slowdown, the symposium was attended by approximately 1,000 delegates with substantial efforts and contributions of the symposium committee members.

At the symposium, we also integrated our younger members and organized a student luncheon and poster event, as well as sponsoring student subscription fees. The student luncheon allowed participants to engage with colleagues from other schools and industry professionals. The event also included a student poster session in which graduates and undergraduates shared their work and research with the symposium attendees.

For all of what the chapter has done, we have always been grateful for the feedback and continuous involvement of the membership. Nevertheless, now we are also honored for the Houston Chapter to be awarded as chapter of the year in the SPWLA 51st anniversary. Thank you for this recognition.