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Charles Oden has nearly two decades of experience in the design, creation, and evaluation of geophysical instrumentation and the corresponding data analysis software. Dr. Oden has developed instruments that make nuclear, galvanic, seismic/acoustic, EM induction, and ground penetrating radar measurements. He has written numerous programs for data processing, modeling, and visualization; ranging from user friendly commercial applications to in-house engineering and modeling routines. Dr. Oden draws on his cross-disciplinary knowledge base in geology, electrical engineering, geophysics, and scientific computer programming to facilitate innovative solutions to real world problems.
While at Mt. Sopris Instruments, Charles Oden designed or helped design approximately twenty different well-logging probes and several families of data acquisition systems. Sensor types included galvanic resistivity, EM induction, acoustic and seismic measurements, nuclear measurements, and fluid flow measurements. These probes are actively being manufactured. Hundreds of these instruments have been built, and there are hundreds of users.
As a student researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey, he designed a high dynamic range ground penetrating radar (GPR) system using ground coupled GPR antennas. He developed algorithms to account for the changing antenna response due to variable soil properties and antenna standoff. He created new methods for determining soil properties from GPR surveys, and a new method to enhance the resolution of GPR images in lossy (dispersive and attenuating) media. While at the U.S.G.S. he also developed modeling and inversion software for an electromagnetic tensor induction instrument that detects and characterizes buried unexploded ordinance (UXO).
Currently at Earth Science Systems, he is developing a suite of miniaturized wireless sensors to make in-situ measurements for monitoring applications. There are sensors under development to make seismic, magnetic, EM induction, GPR, and galvanic measurements. He is also creating the corresponding modeling and interpretation software.
Dr. Oden has extensive experience with numerical modeling of the physical processes used in remote sensing. He has conducted numerous simulations for antenna design and EM wave propagation, seismic wave propagation, neutron activation analysis (and other nuclear techniques), and subsurface fluid flow. He has written modeling software for cross-borehole EM induction surveys; and for both EM induction and magnetic surveys of UXO and buried utilities. He has also written various inversion routines to characterize objects (UXO and buried utilities) using magnetometer and EM induction data. He has written advanced end-user software packages for geophysical well log analysis and GPR data processing. Recently, he has been experimenting with passive imaging algorithms and blind source separation methods for ground penetrating radar and seismic surveys.
Dr. Oden is also an adjunct assistant professor of geophysics at Colorado School of Mines.
PROFESSIONAL CHRONOLOGY: Nebraska Radio Telephone Systems, engineer, 1985-1991; Mt. Sopris Instrument Co., 1991-2003 [systems engineer 1991-1995, senior engineer 1995-1999, engineering manager, 1999-2003], Mercury Geophysics, proprietor, 2001-present; U.S. Geological Survey, graduate student appointment, 2003-2006; Earth Science Systems, director of research and development, 2006-present; Colorado School of Mines, adjunct assistant professor of geophysics, 2008-present.
MEMBERSHIPS: Society of Exploration Geophysicists, American Geophysical Union, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society, European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers.
May 2009 |
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