FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In today’s world, technology can often be the “make or break” component of education, and geoscience students in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas are now better equipped to “make it.”

Thanks to the generous gift of KINGDOM software valued at $3.5 million from Seismic Micro-Technology Inc. (SMT), students studying and analyzing data from petroleum exploration are becoming more familiar and integrated with programs and processes they will encounter in the real world.

“The students are very pleased in the sense that they are employing this kind of technique and software that is commonplace in the industry now,” said Doy Zachry, professor of geosciences. “We have five students moving into company positions after graduation this year, and they will use this software right away. They are happy they can be on the level of other institutions that have worked with this software already.”

“Our interest in supporting the University of Arkansas comes from a long tradition at SMT of trying to give back to the geoscience community,” said Indy Chakrabarti, chief marketing officer for SMT. “There are over 300 universities across the world using KINGDOM, all provided as donations. We believe the earlier that future geoscientists have access to leading software systems, the faster they can become productive when they enter the workforce.”

In addition to the real-world industry experience, this software opens doors for participation in prominent, international competitions.

The Imperial Barrel Award Competition, for example, is a highly respected competition that requires use of this software for students to enter. The regional competition is held in Tulsa, Okla., followed by a national competition in New Orleans, culminating at the international finals in Edinburgh, Scotland. As a result of students’ presentations at this contest, they will get opportunities to present at national meetings of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

“This software puts us on par with peer institutions,” said Zachry. “This is a huge step in getting to that level, and being able to say we can compete with institutions known as leaders in the field. It will go far in our recruitment efforts as well.”

There are faculty and student applications of the software, so the gift has a direct impact on all levels of research and discovery taking place at the University of Arkansas.

Since 1984, Seismic Micro-Technology Inc. has provided the upstream exploration and production industry with innovative software solutions that have set the market standard for easy to use, highly integrated, cost-effective software.

SMT developed the first geoscience interpretation tools for the Windows computing environment to help speed up hydrocarbon exploration, collaboration and decision-making while delivering exceptional accuracy and consistency. Today SMT is the global leader in geoscientific exploration and production software, now used by more than 3,000 customers in 100 countries.