Eric is a young geophysicist with outstanding abilities and a most deserving recipient of the Society's Karcher Award.
     A native of The Netherlands, Eric studied applied physics at Delft University. While working on his master's thesis, "The characterization of loudspeaker responses with the Wigner distribution," he demonstrated excellent research ability, and it was natural for him to accept an invitation to remain at the Laboratory of Seismics and Acoustics while pursuing his doctorate.
     It was 1986, and initial experiments revealed the great potential of a surface-related multiple removal theory. Eric was asked to search for a robust and economic solution that would perform well in practice. This assignment was supremely challenging because the theory requires an accurate estimate (in the absolute sense) of the seismic source-detector wavelet. Now, more than ten years later, many oil companies and contractors are applying this approach to structurally complex multiple problems.
     In 1991 Eric received his doctorate cum laude (designating a thesis ranking in the top five percent of the university). The following year The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences awarded Eric a research fellowship which allowed him to continue his work on multiples in Delft. In 1996 Eric received compensation from Royal Dutch/Shell for his excellent work on wavelet estimation and multiple removal. Currently he is one of four permanent staff members at Delft's seismic and acoustic lab.
     During the last six years, Eric has presented a total of 24 papers at SEG and EAGE annual meetings and has published four technical papers (in Geophysical Prospecting and Geophysics). But even more remarkable is the fact that he is one of the project leaders in the Delphi consortium. His responsibilities include not only the multiple problem and its integration with prestack migration but also the Delphi software which is regularly distributed to the 28 sponsoring companies.
     What do others have to say about Eric? Dr. Panos Kelamis (of Saudi Aramco) states that those who have worked with Eric "appreciate his deep commitment to convey information in the most exact and straightforward way. His unique approach in solving real problems (and multiples is just one of many) is combined with a pleasant, always willing-to-help personality."
     Dr. Mohamed Hadid (of Mobil) adds, "In 1996 I had the good fortune to work closely with Eric and to observe his admirable combination of in-depth theoretical knowledge and wealth of practical insights, as well as his wonderful personal qualities. His contributions to multiple eliminationSstarting with his Ph.D. work under Professor BerkhoutSare largely responsible for the most important recent advances in this area. I can think of very few young researchers in geophysics who are as deserving of this award as Eric Verschuur."
     Eric is not only an excellent scientist with a thorough appreciation of theory and practice, he is also a most pleasant colleague whose offers to help are always with a smile. We are delighted that SEG has chosen to honor him with this award.

     A. J. Berkhout