Matteo is a Senior Research Advisor and AI/MLOps Engineer at Shearwater Geoservices. Prior to that, Matteo was an Assistant Professor at KAUST in the School of Earth Science and Engineering, member of the Extreme Computing Research Center, and co-Director of the DeepWave industry funded consortium. Matteo also worked in Equinor both within research and operations and has led the development of several open-source software products in the geophysical domain. He holds a Phd in Geophysics from the University of Edinburgh and an MSc and BSc in Telecommunication Engineering from Politecnico di Milano. Matteo has made several contributions in the areas of seismic processing and imaging by developing novel methods to improve the quality and resolution of subsurface imaging products. For his work, Matteo is the recipient of the SEG Karcher Award, EAGE Arie van Weelden award, RAS Keith Runcorn Prize, and Gustavo Sclocchi Theses Award. Matteo is also involved in the development of the open-source project PyLops, a Python framework for large-scale inverse problems on heterogeneous architectures.

Tariq A. Alkhalifah is a professor in the Physical Sciences and Engineering Division. He joined KAUST in June 2009. Before he joined KAUST, Alkhalifah was research professor and director of the Oil and Gas Research Institute at King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology (KACST). Previously, he held the positions of associate research professor, assistant research professor, and research assistant at KACST. From 1996 to 1998, Alkhalifah served as a postdoctoral researcher for the Stanford Exploration Project at Stanford University, United States. He received the J. Clarence Karcher Award from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) in 1998 and the Conrad Schlumberger Award from the European Association for Geoscientists & Engineers (EAGE) in 2003, and served as an honorary lecturer for the SEG in 2011. He also received the Virgil Kauffman Gold medal from the SEG in 2023. Alkhalifah received his doctoral degree in geophysics and his master’s degree in geophysical engineering, both from the Colorado School of Mines, United States. He holds a bachelor’s degree in geophysics from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia. Alkhalifah’s research interests include seismic imaging and waveform inversion in complex media, and recently his interest included the utilization of machine learning for such objectives.

Gareth is a Principal Programme Manager with Azure Global Industry, specializing in AI programs for the energy sector. He focuses on improving efficiencies through technology and AI, developing strategies for analytics using modern architectures and HPC systems. His projects include data platforms, schemas, and HPC/AI solutions, adhering to data governance standards.Gareth holds a Doctorate in Geophysics from University College Dublin (2002), an M.Sc. in Geophysics from Durham University (1998), and a B.A. in Theoretical Physics from Trinity College Dublin (1997). He also earned an M.Sc. in Business Analytics from Smurfit Business School (2017) and currently holds an adjunct professorship at the Dublin Institute for advanced Studies. From 2002 to 2011, Gareth was a Research Fellow at UCD's School of Earth Sciences, focusing on Computational Geoscience. He then worked as a Principal Scientist in the energy sector until 2020, tackling industry challenges with HPC and AI. Gareth’s expertise spans academia, industry, and cloud technology, with numerous scientific publications in geophysics, imaging and AI applications.

37 years of experience across technology and innovation, Mik has established himself as a strategic leader in digital transformation, particularly in energy exploration and high-performance computing.  Mik began his career in High-Performance Technical Computing at Apollo Computers and later HP, serving automotive, aerospace, electronics and scientific research sectors.  In 2002, he led strategic E&P partnerships for HP in O&G with the likes of SLB, Halliburton, Paradigm, and IHS. In 2007 he joined Microsoft as Director of Strategic Partnerships for E&P. Mik joined NVIDIA in 2011 to pioneer GPU adoption in the E&P ecosystem. In 2012 he joined the leadership teams at innovative GPU startups, Hue and Headwave. His vision was critical in creating what became Bluware, securing strategic investments from Shell Ventures and Energy Ventures, and expanding business relationships with energy majors including Shell, Petrobras, and ENI.  In 2020, AWS recruited Mik to their newly established Energy Business Unit as the Global lead for HPC and Subsurface solutions. His contributions resulted in the creation of AWS's Seismic Studio initiative (now HPC Orchestrator) and other strategic programs with a few operators.  Currently, Mik serves as Head of Business Development and Partnerships at ThinkOnward, a Shell Exploration-founded company, leveraging a global network of over 7,500 active Geoscientists and Data Scientists to integrate knowledge and advanced AI into E&P workflows while identifying and accelerating innovative startups.  Mik has been a co-founder, advisor, and investor in numerous technology startups spanning HPC, Renewable Energy, Biosensors, Industrial IoT, AR/VR, GreenTech, and Next-gen Microprocessors.