This International Women’s Day, I celebrate my BIG Media Ltd. co-founder Laurie Weston.
Laurie is a sensational scientist, exceptional entrepreneur, marvellous mother/grandmother, and fantastic friend.
Her international geophysics firm Sound QI Solutions, through its proprietary QI-Pro software, is helping oil and gas explorers make seismic shifts in how they interpret data and pinpoint lucrative hydrocarbon reservoirs.
Said a geoscientist from one of North America’s leading energy companies:
“The good news is that we are using QI-Pro in big ways right now in our main field. It’s not only helping us, but the engineers can’t seem to make a decision without it, LOL.”
Laurie has also been instrumental in helping me with lessons of humility.
When I assembled the business plan for fact-focused news platform BIG Media Ltd., I figured that I would be one of the main news writers. After all, I was an award-winning journalist who was good with words and numbers.
However, within a couple weeks of working with Laurie, I realized that I – like virtually all news journalists on the planet – was not intelligent enough to write at the level required to be truly accurate and to provide critical context in reporting on such issues as COVID-19, climate change, and energy transition.
On her weekends and evenings, Laurie’s data wizardry and logical interpretation have helped BIG-Media.ca provide definitive pieces on matters including:
- Causes of death during the pandemic – https://big-media.ca/a-look-back-at-causes-of-death-in-the-first-year-of-covid-19/
- COVID vs the flu – https://big-media.ca/covid-19-is-definitely-not-the-flu/
- Excess deaths – https://big-media.ca/causes-of-death-in-alberta-during-the-second-year-of-the-pandemic/
- Climate change and energy – https://big-media.ca/climate-change-and-energy-context-for-the-great-debate/
- Global emissions – https://big-media.ca/putting-global-emissions-in-perspective/
- Glacial recession – https://big-media.ca/funeral-for-a-glacier/
- Carbon capture – https://big-media.ca/capturing-carbon-the-science-and-the-subtleties/
- Fracking – https://big-media.ca/fracking-101-just-the-fracts/
- Artificial intelligence – https://big-media.ca/ai-where-are-we-and-where-are-we-going-2/ https://big-media.ca/ai-where-are-we-and-where-are-we-going-3/
Laurie has also written a three-part series on fundamental principles of science that has earned high praise from scientists and non-scientists alike:
- The scientific method – https://big-media.ca/science-there-is-method-to-the-madness/
- Manipulating science – https://big-media.ca/manipulating-science-activism-and-advocacy/
- Science and morality – https://big-media.ca/science-and-morality-ethics-and-judgment/
Please join me in celebrating Laurie Weston, an inspiring leader in so many ways.
(Rob Driscoll – BIG Media Ltd., 2024)
