The Stanford Exploration Project (SEP) is an industry-funded academic consortium within the Geophysics Department at Stanford University. SEP research has contributed greatly to improving the theory and practice of constructing 3-D and 4-D images of the earth from seismic echo soundings (see: Reflection seismology). The consortium was started in the 1970s by Jon Claerbout and is currently co-directed with Biondo Biondi.