Research Areas
[1] Full-waveform inversion
[2] Seismic migration imaging
[3] Seismic wavefield modelling
[4] Large-Scale Parallel Computing and Mathematic Optimization
[5] Artificial Intelligence and Applications in Geophysics
Education
Ph.D. Geophysics, Seismic data migration, Imperial College London (2009-2013)
MSc. Geophysics, China University of Geosciences (2005-2008)
BSc. Geophysics, China University of Geosciences (2001-2005)
Minor in Computer Science and Engineering, China University of Geosciences (2003-2005)
Awards
[1] Fu Cheng-Yi Award for Young Scientist 2020
[2] Best top 25 papers of SEG 2018
[3] UK-China Scholarship for Excellence (2009-2012)
Introduction of Teacher
Dr. Gang Yao is currently a Professor at Unconventional Petroleum Institute, China University of Petroleum (Beijing). He is a recipient of the national-level Young Talent project and serves as an associate editor for the journals of 'Petroleum Science' and 'Chinese Journal of Geophysics'. Dr. Yao earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in Exploration Geophysics from China University of Geosciences (Beijing) and obtained his Ph.D. from Imperial College London in 2013. He then joined the Fullwave Consortium led by the globally renowned Geophysicist Professor Mike Warner at Imperial College London for postdoctoral research. His primary research focused on seismic data imaging and Full-Waveform Inversion (FWI) and industrial applications. He has published over 40 international SCI papers and holds several granted patents.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Professor in Geophysics, China University of Petroleum (Beijing) (2020.7 – present)
Associate Professor in Geophysics, China University of Petroleum (Beijing) (2019.1 – 2020.6)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow working on waveform inversion, Rice University (2018.5 – 2018.12) Advisor: Prof. Fenglin Niu
Technical Researcher & founder, Sub-Salt Solutions Ltd. (20014.1 - 2016.12)
Postdoctoral Research Associate working on waveform inversion, Imperial College London (2013.8 – 2017.12) Advisor: Prof. Mike Warner
Research Projects
[1] Study on the theory and key algorithms of full-waveform seismic imaging and simultaneous multi-elastic parameter inversion, National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. U23B20159), 2024 – 2027, budget ¥2,590k, Principal Investigator
[2] Study on full-waveform inversion for anisotropic media with full-component elastic seismic data, National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 41974142), 2020 – 2023, budget ¥640k, Principal Investigator
[3] Study on full-waveform inversion for deep oil reservoirs, Science Foundation of China University of Petroleum (Beijing) (grant no. 5552462019YJRC005), 2019 – 2021, budget ¥600k, Principal Investigator
[4] Research on mode separation-based reflection waveform inversion in elastic media, National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 42074129), 2021 – 2025, budget ¥590k, Key Participant.
[5] Study on full-waveform inversion with multi-constraints, National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2018YFA0702502), 2020 – 2024, budget ¥500k of total ¥600M, Key Participant.
Publications
Journal Paper
[1] Zheng, Q., and G. Yao*. 2023, An improved elastic wavefield separation method based on the Helmholtz decomposition. Geophysics, 88, no. 4,1-35.
[2] Fang, X, G. Yao*, F. Niu, and D. Wu. 2023, Estimating optimal parameters of finite-difference scheme for wavefield modelling. Chinese Journal of Geophysics (in Chinese), 66, no. 5.
[3] Ma, X., G. Yao*, F. Zhang, and D. Wu. 2023, Fault detection method based on pixel difference network. Chinese Journal of Geophysics (in Chinese), 66, no. 4,1649-1663.
[4] Yao, G., B. Wu, N.V. da Silva, H.A. Debens, D. Wu, J. Cao*. 2022, Least-squares reverse-time migration with a multiplicative Cauchy constraint. Geophysics, 87, no. 3, 1-75.
[5] Liu, N., G. Yao*, Z. Zou, S. Wang, D. Wu, X. Li, and J. Zhou. 2022, Two Improved Acquisition Systems for Deep Subsurface Exploration. Frontiers in Earth Science, 11, 407.
[6] Yao, G., B. Wu, N.V. da Silva, H.A. Debens, D. Wu, J. Cao*. 2022, Least-squares reverse-time migration with a multiplicative Cauchy constraint. Geophysics, 87, no. 3, 1MJ-V246.
[7] Li, X., G. Yao*, F. Niu, D. Wu, N. Liu. 2022, Waveform inversion of seismic first arrivals acquired on irregular surface. Geophysics, 87, no. 3, 1MJ-V246.
[8] Cao*, J.J., G. Yao, N.V. da Silva. 2022, Interpolation of Irregularly Sampled Noisy Seismic Data with the Nonconvex Regularization and Proximal Method. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 179, 663–678
Conference Paper
[1] Fang, XZ., FN. Niu, G. Yao. 2021, Estimate optimal parameters of finite-difference scheme for wavefield modelling. In 82nd EAGE Conference and Exhibition 2018.
[2] Wu*, B., G. Yao, J. Cao, et al., 2021, Huber inversion-based reverse-time migration with de-primary imaging condition and sparse constraint in curvelet domain. In 82th EAGE Conference and Exhibition 2021.
[3] Yao*, G., N. V. da Silva, M. Warner, D. Wu, and C. Yang. 2019, Tackling cycle-skipping in full-waveform inversion with intermediate data, SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 2019: 1560-1564.
[4] Yao*, G., N. V. da Silva, and D. Wu. 2019, Reflection-waveform inversion constrained with structure-oriented smoothing, SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 2019: 1615-1619.
[5] Yao*, G., N. da Silva, M. Warner, and T. Kalinicheva. 2018, Separation of migration and tomography modes of full-waveform inversion in the plane-wave domain. In 80th EAGE Conference and Exhibition 2018.
[6] Yao*, G., N. da Silva, M. Warner, and D. Wu. 2018, Extraction of tomography mode for full-waveform inversion with nonstationary smoothing, SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 2018: 1364-1368.
[7] Yao*, G., N. V. da Silva, M. Warner, A. Umpleby, and D. Wu. 2017, Improved FWI convergence using efficient receiver-side spatial preconditioning employing ray theory. In 79th EAGE Conference and Exhibition 2017.
Patents
[1] G. Yao, D. Wu, A method for separating the tomographic and migration modes in full-waveform inversion, Patent no. ZL201711462842.9 (Region: China), Grant date: 2019-02-12
[2] G. Yao, D. Wu, A method for extraction of the tomographic mode in full-waveform inversion, Patent no. ZL201810596430.2 (Region: China), Grant date: 2019-6-25
[3] G. Yao, D. Wu, A method for overcoming cycle-skipping in full-waveform inversion, Patent no. ZL201810875786.x.2 (Region: China), Grant date: 2019-09-13