Dirk Smit
Dirk Smit is VP of Exploration Technologies and Chief Scientist-Geophysics for Shell. He holds a PhD in mathematical physics from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, and taught at the University of California, Berkeley, before joining Shell in 1992. Smit’s past roles at Shell have included chief geophysicist for Shell UK and technology manager for Global Exploration. He also holds a visiting faculty position in the Earth Science department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has a visiting professorship in Geoscience at the Chinese University of Petroleum in Beijing. Smit was awarded the Ludwig Mintrop award in geophysics by the European Association of Geophysicists and Engineers in 2002.