Face to Face with Shell Chief Scientist Dirk Smit

Dr. Dirk Smit, Vice President of Exploration Technology in R&D department and Chief Scientist of Shell for Geophysics, received an interview with USTC students in Face to Face activity in his 2-day-visit to USTC on May 16th.

The Face to Face activity included 2 parts, the selected 2 students’ interview and the invitee’s communication with students whoever had interest in.

Dr. Smit along with Dr. JING Xudong and Dr. ZHANG Jie, talked face to face with students YAO Yuxi and HE Siyu about his personal experiences as a professor in University of California, Berkeley and as the Vice President in Global Exploration. YAO and He questioned about education, environmental protection, energy and etc. Dr. Smit gave some advice about the transformation from college to company, and also shared his opinion on the future of fossil fuels and other forms of energy.

As to the development of human-beings, Dr. Smit said, "I don' t believe we should slow down, in fact I think we should run, in order to cope with the increasing problems that human are facing."

After Face to Face, Dr. Smit answered a wide range of questions from students, including, his life in Shell and the necessary qualities for students who wanted to join major companies like Shell.

JING also shared the "CART" theory with our students, in which C for "Capacity", A for "Achievement", R for "Relationship" and T for "Technology". JING pointed out the desired qualities companies like Shell hope to see in young, fresh minds.

When asked about the disadvantage of Chinese students, Smit said: "No, I don't see any drawbacks; I can only see a bright future for you guys. I’m sure that China has a bright future." 

At the end of the 2-hour-interview, Smit and JING received gifts including a traditional Chinese pen holder and a USTC T-shirt.

The guests were impressed deeply and looking forward to returning to USTC. 

CV

Dirk Smit hasbeen with Shell since 1992, and currently Vice President of Exploration Technology in R&D and is Chief Scientist for Shell for Geophysics. He got a PhD in Mathematical Physics (String Theory), and had an Academic live before Shell as faculty at Berkley in the US. He started his career with R&D some 16 years ago and among others have been chief geophysicist for Shell UK and Technology manager for Global Exploration. He’s positions outside Shell: a visiting faculty position at the Earth Science Dept at MIT. He is a member of the National Research Council on Solid Earth Observations in the US as well as the National Dutch Science Board for Basic Science Research in the Netherlands.

JING Xudong is the External Research and Innovation Director in Shell (China). He served as Shell’s Global R&D Program Manager for Improved and Enhanced Oil Recovery leading research teams in Hague, Houston, Calgary and Oman. He was also the Founding Manager of Shell Technology Oman – a Shell Technical Centre focusing on enhanced oil recovery (EOR). His areas of technical interests include carbonate reservoir development, smart waterflooding, enhanced oil recovery and recovery of difficult hydrocarbons (e.g., heavy oil/tight gas). JING has over 100 publications in petroleum reservoir engineering and petrophysics, and has been an active member of professional societies including serving as President of the Society of Core Analysts (www.SCAweb.org) and Technical Editor and Global Talent Council member for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (www.SPE.org). JING also holds the position of Visiting Professor in petroleum engineering at Imperial College London where he served previously as a senior faculty member.

Prof. ZHANG Jie is Director of Geophysical Research Institute of USTC. He is one of the national professors selected through "1000 Talents Program" and returned China in 2010 after living in the US for 23 years. He teaches graduate courses at both MIT and Stanford as a visiting professor. In 1981, He was enrolled at USTC for undergraduate studies and received his BS degree in Geophysics. He served as President of University Student Association of USTC, and Vice President of National Student Union of China. He received his Ph.D. in Geophysics in MIT in 1996, and then worked in a number of companies in the U.S. In 1998, he founded GeoTomo, an oil and gas exploration software company. In 1999, he founded Miles Medical Technology Corp., a medical imaging company. Currently he is Board Director of The Board of SEG Global, and also Chairman of SEG China Advisory Committee.

Photo by Postgraduate Association of USTC