SPE encourages all its members and sections to educate the public about energy and put a face on the industry. Energy is a critical issue worldwide, and SPE believes face-to-face contact is the ideal way to spread the word about energy conservation, the future of the oil and gas industry, and its impact on the planet.

The energy4me books and kits donated to the Ghana section were sponsored by energy4me, SPE’s energy education outreach program, and Colin Black, SPE EIC member and Director, Optima Solutions UK Ltd.

SPE and energy4me would like to thank the Ghana section in their energy outreach initiatives. Together, we can make a difference by sharing the facts about energy with the public and putting a face on the industry.

Keep up the good work!

Learn more about energy and energy careers.

The picture to the right shows the SPE Ghana board members and British High Commissioner, Mr. Peter Jones.

Fifteen engineering students in their third, fourth, or fifth year were selected. Winners are recognized for academic excellence, leadership within student organizations, outstanding communication skills, non-engineering related community service and involvement in the engineering industry.

Moustafa Ezzat, a 5th year student from the British University in Egypt and student member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), was among the winners.

Since 2003, National Engineers Week Foundation has honored young engineering professionals with its New Faces of Engineering award.  This is the first year the popular initiative has expanded to recognize the best and brightest college engineering students.

Congratulations Moustafa Ezzat!

New Faces of Engineering College Edition is live on Facebook (www.facebook.com/collegeedition).  The page provides a source of academic and professional development opportunities available to students from National Engineers Week Foundation’s engineering association, university, and corporate partners.  Students can meet with their engineering peers in every field and learn about other events, internships, jobs, competitions, engineering associations and more.

Funding for New Faces of Engineering College Edition is provided by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). For more information, visit www.eweek.org.

Learn more about engineering careers.

The tour started off at the Ellison Miles Geotechnology Institute (EMGI) where Dallas section members Toni Lott, Brad Robinson, Deborah Hempel-Medina, Brian Chacka, and Patrick Crawford made a presentation covering the history of Oil and Natural Gas, Geology and the History of Barnett Shale, Drilling a well, and Hydraulic Fracturing. Teachers were engaged in the presentations and asked the presenters a lot of questions to get a better understanding of the industry and how they could relay the information to their students in the classroom.

After the overview, everyone was styling in their safety gear as they prepared to go out into the field. Each participant wore steeled toed boots, fire retardant overalls, safety glasses, ear plugs, and hard hats. The teachers were able to visit three sites where they learned firsthand about safety, advance technologies, and rules and regulations all involved in operating each site. The sites teachers visited are listed as follows.

• Williams Company Drilling Site
• Devon Energy Hydraulic Fracturing Site
• Chesapeake Learning Center

After a full day of touring, teachers headed back to the Dallas Convention Center full of knowledge about the industry, their hard hat as a souvenir, and information to take back to their classrooms that included an “Oil and Natural Gas” book.

This workshop was made possible by the Ellison Miles Geotechnology Institute, Society of Petroleum Engineers-Dallas Section, Halliburton Energy Services, Williams Company, Devon Energy Company, Baker-Hughes Oilfield Services and Chesapeake Energy.

Energy4me and the Society of Petroleum Engineers want to thank everyone involved.

Learn more about careers in the industry.

The student-run program promotes SPE and educates the surrounding schools about the oil and gas industry and the challenges facing it today.

The schools they visited

1. Abdullah Government College
2. The Fahim’s A-Levels School System
3. CharterHouse Public School
4. A.M.S.B Al-Madrast-us-Saifyat-ul-Burhaniya
5. Jinnah University For Women

Energy4me and SPE would like to express our thanks to the commitment and continued efforts of this student chapter!

Ambassadors for Pakistan Team (2009-present)

• Hernan Buijs- SPE Student Development Committee Officer (mentor, motivator, and visit sponsor)
• M Turab Mehdi – Ambassadors for Pakistan – Team Executive Head & Planner
• Tabinda Saeed – HR Manager
• Syeda Hasan- Team Manager

New presenters added this year.

• Sidra Chughtai – Presenter
• Omer Ashan – Presenter
• Shahzeb Barber – Presenter
• Eijaz Danish – Presenter
• Mufaddal Murtaza – Presenter

Energy4me encourages young industry leaders to get involved in their community by giving classroom presentations or holding educational outreach programs like the SPE NED student chapter. These presentations make a huge impact and inspire future generations!

Share with us your contributions and outreach efforts in your community that you are already making with Energy4me and email us at energyed@spe.org or read more on how you can get involved in your community!

Again, thank you to the SPE NED University Student Chapter on your continued education outreach efforts in Pakistan!

Organised by Aberdeen Council, Aberdeenshire Council, the Energy Institute and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Aberdeen, the event is aimed at teachers and careers advisors to help raise awareness of the Renewable sector.

The event also hosted the final of the ‘Electrocity Challenge’ where five teams of four children from Meldrum Academy, Peterhead Academy, Mackie Academy, Turriff Academy and Mintlaw Academy went head to head in an “ElectroCity” Competition.   ElectroCity is an online game that has been developed specifically for teachers and students between years 7 and 9. Students build and manage their own virtual towns and cities, making important decisions and learning about energy generation and environmental management. Representatives from a range of businesses led round tables to provide valuable industry information to subject-specialist teachers and career guidance experts.

Colin Black, SPE CG Chairman, Aberdeen Section, said:  “This event focuses on sharing information with teachers and pupils so they are better informed about the ‘whole energy’ sector and careers within it.  This includes the ‘energy mix’ of hydrocarbons and renewable as well as the vital role the oil and gas sector plays now and in the future.

This is a global energy industry with many opportunities for young people – SPE Aberdeen aims to continue to provide background information, facts, guidance on career paths and information on how to enter the industry.  This event is a positive step towards this.” 

SPE Aberdeen, along with other hosts, provided tour guides for teachers and pupils to meet many of the businesses exhibiting at the show. 

SPE collaboration with Schools is part of the global SPE initiative http://www.energy4me.org/  and SPE volunteers will be working closely with Schools during various events throughout this next term and anyone wishing to lend support should contact the Aberdeen Section, Career Guidance Committee at CG-Aberdeen@spemail.org

On March 25th, four SPE young professional members and five LSU students visited Fontainbleau High School in Mandeville to discuss the oil and gas industry to four 10th/11th grade classes in AP Chemistry and Physics. Each class session began with introductions and either an explanation of job titles or class levels at LSU. The Fontainbleau students received advice about working in the petroleum industry and preparation for college.

After introductions, the presenters showed a few power point slides from the Energy4Me prepared presentation. During the presentation the students had numerous questions about the industry and college life. One major topic of discussion was degree selection and college advice. Sofia Miranda, a freshman at LSU talked about the importance of time management in college versus high school and how important studying is in college. Wendy Redpath, a junior at LSU talked about her personal experience of switching from Civil to Petroleum Engineering and the course overlap between the two disciplines. Courtney Sample, a reservoir engineer for Chevron discussed the importance of internships for students to confirm their college major choice.  Elizabeth Mann, a facilities engineer for Shell talked about recruiting and what companies are looking for in students. Everyone was very engaged during the discussions and eager to ask questions about engineering.

Another major topic of discussion was the many opportunities in the oil and gas industry. Dakoriye Charles, a freshman at LSU discussed his traveling experiences because of the petroleum industry. Jack Carona, a petroleum engineer for Griffin and Griffin talked about how his non routine job changes daily.  Richard Zaunbrecher, a deepwater exploration team lead with Shell also talked about his experience as a supervisor in the petroleum industry. Partnering with LSU made this event a great success! The college and workforce perspectives helped the students understand what it means to be a petroleum engineer. Other participants included Teddy Yao a freshman at LSU and James Stiernberg a graduate student from LSU.

Learn more about becoming a petroleum engineer.

Since 2009, The Central Coast Education Collaborative – a project of the Santa Maria Section of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and the Oil & Gas Industry – has partnered with local high schools to provide 4-8 students with a five-week summer engineering internship. The purpose of the internship is to engage and provide students with a contextual view of how engineering is used to develop innovative solutions for “real world” problems.  SPE members of the Santa Maria Section and professionals within the Oil & Gas Industry mentor the students on a daily basis throughout the duration of the project.

In 2010, the engineering experience was shared with the students by having them design, build and test an ocean wave energy extraction device.  Secondarily, the students were asked to consider the potential environmental impact of placing the device into service.  Field testing was conducted at the Venoco Pier in Carpinteria, California used to support their offshore platforms.  Guest speakers provided the students with context for the project including:  “Alphabet Soup – The Regulatory Agencies, Codes and Permitting”.  The students were also challenged to research the field of wave energy and the market viability of their device using The Marine & Hydrokinetic Technology Database housed on the U.S. Department of Energy’s website.  The final stage of the internship required the students to prepare a presentation summarizing their project.  The students made the presentation at a number of venues – including SPE Santa Maria functions, school board meetings, energy-related conferences and established academic competitions.

The work of the students and support of the members of the Santa Maria Section of Society of Petroleum Engineers was well documented in 3 newspaper articles – most recently a 3rd place victory and a purse of $250.00 at the Santa Barbara County Science Fair.

Plans are already underway for the 2011 internship which includes expansion of students, mentors and projects as well as the opportunity for one team to secure college scholarships.

Learn more about this project or a career in engineering!

On February 11th, three SPE members visited Thomas Jefferson High School to discuss oil and gas to two 12th grade classes, AP Environmental Science and AP Chemistry. We began by introducing ourselves explaining our individual paths leading to a career in the Petroleum Industry. Pete Lensing, who works for BOPCO, as a production engineer emphasized the benefits of working in the field as an intern and as a new hire.

Next, we presented a few power point slides from the energy4me prepared presentation. Before the presentation students were connvinced renewables would be the only source of energy in 2030. After an explanation and the World Energy Demand slide, they realized oil and coal would still be a vital source of energy in the future. Courtney Sample, a reservoir engineer for Chevron explained how Chevron and other petroleum companies have devoted whole Buisness Units to renewable energy and energy efficiency. At Chevron it is called Chevron Technology Ventures.

Sean OBoyle, a consultant for ExPert E&P talked about the opportunities in the petroleum field. He informed students about the different options for a Petroleum Engineer. He explained how he has had the opportunity to travel around the world and also live in the state of Louisiana.

The students had lots of questions about the industry and about education. One really good question was about school and life balance. We encouraged the students to pursue petroleum engineering so that the energy industry has more creative minds in the future to find innovative cost effective ways to reduce our carbon footprint.

Learn more about a career in petroleum engineering or energy sources. 

Each year, National Engineers Week Foundation, a coalition of engineering societies, major corporations and government agencies, asks its members to nominate colleagues 30 years old and younger for consideration as one of the New Faces of Engineering. The work of the 2011 class reflects many of the most pressing issues that engineers are endeavoring to solve on a global scale, including energy resources, infrastructure renewal, technological advancement and national security.

Belinda Wu is currently a reservoir engineer for Woodside Energy Ltd. in Perth, Australia. She is passionate about her work because it is so dynamic, facing different challenges from day to day. As a reservoir engineer in the oil and gas industry, her job involves finding and extracting hydrocarbons from reservoir rock deep below the surface of the earth. Much of the world’s energy is sourced from oil and gas, so her work involves constantly improving on technologies that will enable more hydrocarbons to be extracted in a cost effective manner. She is excited about being an engineer. She chose her career because she enjoys the thrill of solving complex problems and likes the flexibility to work on site or in the office.  Plus, working in the oil and gas industry gives her the opportunity to travel.

Wu is currently a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and serves on the young professionals coordinating committee in the Western Australian section. She is also a 2010 SPE regional award winner for outstanding young professional.

Wu holds a bachelor degree with honors in chemical engineering from the University of Adelaide. The petroleum engineering profession includes chemical, mechanical, civil, electrical and marine engineers, as well as those with degrees in petroleum engineering.

Read more about the New Faces of Engineering honorees for 2011 or learn more about engineering careers.

The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) is a sponsoring society of Engineers Week and hopes to attract bright young people to the exciting world of engineering. Many of SPE’s local sections use Energy4me to bring Engineers Week to their communities through activities such as:

• Giving classroom presentations

Energy – Making Our Lives Easier (elementary)

Petroleum Engineers Make a World of Difference (intermediate/secondary)

Game – Petroleum Engineers Make a World of Difference (intermediate/secondary)

Energy’s Grand Challenges (educators/adults)

Energy Sources of the World  (educators, adults, intermediate and secondary)

• Organizing student tours of interesting engineering achievements in the community
• Sponsoring materials for a teacher workshop
• Judging local Future City™ competitions
• Offering art or essay contests for students on the importance of engineering
• Purchasing Oil and Natural Gas books and Energy4me Kits to donate to schools
• Holding “Introduce a Girl to Engineering” events
• Hosting “Engineer for a Day” programs in which high school students shadow engineers for one day
• Presenting annual engineering scholarships awards banquets
• Teaming with other organizations in your community for an expanded outreach

 
Need ideas to get started? Check out the Engineers Week website for tips to jumpstart your Engineers Week celebration with special programs like “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” and National Engineers Week Future City™ Competition.

Visit energy4me.org to learn more about engineering careers.