CCG January 6, 2010

CCG at the University of Alberta

Centre for Computational Geostatistics

Welcome to the website for the Centre for Computational Geostatistics (CCG).

This site is filled with information on the Centre, our research areas, some basic geostatistics, our member companies, how to contact and find us on campus, and current events at the CCG.  We also have contact information for all of the staff and students of the CCG.

CCG’s Vision/Mission

Pressing on Towards the Future

Centre for Computational Geostatistics (CCG)

Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Univeristy of Alberta

The “vision/mission thing” is often derided by technical people since it just gets in way of important work and does not make meaningful contributions.  There is a tendency to rely on light hearted alternatives such as the Dilbert Mission Statement Generator (www.dilbert.com).  On the other hand, management specialists attribute great importance to a vision and plan to achieve that vision.  This is an ad hoc attempt to establish a plan forward to let everyone know what we are all about, provide a unifying force behind new initiatives, and increase our chances of achieving our vision.  This document explicitly specifies a path forward with a vision, mission, strategy, values, focus, goals and initiatives.

Our Vision (what we want to become…):  To be the unquestioned leader in the education of geostatistical practitioners and the development of geostatistical tools.

Teaching highly qualified personnel and developing methodologies with software tools remains the core of what the CCG is all about.  Our vision is to be the undisputed international leader in these two activities.  Persistent unrelenting pursuit of excellence in teaching, research and applications will make this vision a reality.  Our vision is that there will be dozens of groups around the world that focus on geostatistics.  When people give a list of those schools, the CCG at the University of Alberta will be listed at the top of that list.  Many of these schools will trace their roots back to the CCG.  The focus is on practitioners; CCG will be recognized for influencing the practice of geospatial modeling.

Our Mission (what we want to do…):  To teach and equip people to build high quality geostatistical models that realistically reflect natural heterogeneity and accurately measure our uncertainty.

The fundamental principles of constructing numerical spatial models will be taught and implemented.  Techniques will be incrementally improved.  Breakthrough technologies will be sought and pursued.  Patterns of natural heterogeneity are complex and rich in detail; geostatistical tools that realistically reflect those patterns lead to improved decisions.  An important goal of modern geomodeling is to quantify the uncertainty at unsampled locations.  There is a unique truth.  We calculate a probabilistic model of uncertainty.  The calculated probabilities at specific locations will be verified by experimental proportions as they become available, for example, 80% of the true values will be found within the P90 and P10 values.  Global uncertainty is an ephemeral notion at best, but we will provide repeatable documented tools for providing global uncertainty estimates.

Our Strategy (how we organize what we do…):  Our efforts are organized around (1) the delivery of classes to undergraduate students, graduate students, and professionals in industry, (2) the exploration of interesting research ideas in a variety of subject areas and aspects of heterogeneity and uncertainty modeling, and (3) the completion of relevant projects for industry.

There is great benefit for everyone in academia, industry and government to be exposed to teaching of centuries-old fundamental principles, the foundational principles of geostatistics, and the tradecraft details that have evolved in recent applications.  Teaching will be aimed at students of all ages and backgrounds.  A wide ranging portfolio of research topics will be actively pursued.  Some of these research topics will be a direct result of industry collaboration and other topics will be the spontaneous follow-up related to the combined strengths of the supervisors and students of the research program.  Completing industry projects will keep our focus on real problems and maintain practical relevance of our work.

Our Core Values (how we do what we do…):  We believe that…

…understanding geostatistical methods is a foundational catalyst for influencing individuals and groups to appreciate variability and uncertainty and make improved decisions.