2014-2015 Annual Report - engineering.tamu.eduengineering.tamu.edu/media/3709382/annual-report-2014-2015.pdf · Annual Report. HAROLD VANCE ... Student Paper Contest News 32 SPE Student

TRANSFORMING ENGINEERING EDUCATION

2014-2015

Annual Report

HAROLD VANCE DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERINGHAROLD VANCE DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERING

1

TEXAS A&M ENGINEERING engineering.tamu.edu

Letter from the Department Head 1

Credits 1

Undergraduate Program 3

Graduate Program 4

Research 5

Departmental Research Budget 5

Acid Stimulation Research 6

Aggie Drilling Research Group 6

Chevron Petrophysical Imaging 7

Crisman Institute 8

Foundation CMG Chair Research 8

GPRI 9

HOCAM 9

MCERI 10

Skoltech Center 10

Faculty 12

Research Faculty and Staff 20

Staff 20

Alumni 21

Industry Board 21

Contributions and Gifts 22

Awards 24

Aggie 100 26

Scholarship Recipients 27

Students 32

Student Paper Contest News 32

SPE Student Chapter 34

First Drillbotics competition 36

2015 Graduation 37

Table of Contents

As we look back on the 2014-2015 academic year, we see one of the most tumul-tuous years in the history of the oil and gas industry. The price of West Texas Inter-mediate crude oil was about $95 per barrel on Sept. 1, 2014. By January the price had fallen to about $50, and by Aug. 31 of this year it was near $45. The industry that our discipline primarily supplies had fallen from the peak of a raging boom to the trough of a severe bust in less than a year’s time. Undoubtedly, our department, and most significantly, our recent and upcoming graduates, are being affected by the sudden downturn.

However, there is no cause for panic for the future of our department, or our dis-cipline. In fact, there are a number of positive aspects to the current climate. For the first time in more than a decade we anticipate a reduced number of applicants to our program, giving us the opportunity to continue to improve our student to faculty ratio. On the research side, we are using this time to invigorate the Crisman Institute research program by partnering with the Berg-Hughes Center in the Department of Geology and Geophysics on a new initiative focused on unconventional reservoirs. Professor Steve Holditch has re-joined the faculty part time to lead this effort.

Despite the gloomy forecasts of financial analysts, there are a number of clear indications that the current period of low oil prices will not last long. The current environment has been caused by a global market oversupply of crude oil, pushed above demand levels by the remarkable growth in unconventional oil production in the United States in the last five years. However, unconventional oil production requires a tremendous level of drilling and completion activity to maintain steady production. With the industry slowdown that has occurred since January, 2015, U.S. production is already falling significantly (Fig. 1), having dropped about 400,000 barrels per day since July. This decline will soon begin to relieve the downward pressure on crude oil prices.

More importantly, with the low pace of industry activity worldwide, global oil pro-duction capacity is going to fall. The 2015 SPE President, Helge Haldorsen, has been frequently showing a graph generated by Shell Oil (Fig. 2) that shows the deficit in oil production capacity within five years that will occur with just a 5 percent per year decline in productivity from currently producing reservoirs, an optimistic decline rate at today’s industry activity level. Coupled with modest global oil demand growth of

LETTER FROM THE DEPARTMENT HEAD

Texas A&M Engineering Communications 2016

Petroleum Engineering

Kathy Beladi

Gail Krueger

Nancy Luedke

Carol Mumford

Eleanor Schuler

Engineering Communications

Tim Schnettler

Credits

2

HAROLD VANCE DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERING

just 1 percent in 5 years, the world will need 25 million barrels per day of oil production beyond what is produced from existing reser-voirs. A change from oversupply to undersupply of crude oil will take place sooner than anyone currently anticipates. Crude oil prices cannot stay low for long in the face of this looming deficit.

So the future for our department and the petroleum engineering discipline is clear. The long-term outlook is extremely positive, and in fact, our graduates for the next decades will be increasingly challenged to develop new oil and gas resources at the rate the world demands. In the short term we must do all we can, working with our industry partners and friends to see that our outstanding petro-leum engineering graduates get placed in the industry. My message to all of you in industry with regards to recruiting Aggie petroleum engineering graduates is simple – get them while you can because the current buyer’s market for petroleum engineers will be short-lived.

A. Dan HillProfessor, Holder of the Stephen A. Holditch ‘69 Department Chair

Fig. 1–U.S. oil production for last two years Fig. 2–Forecast of oil production capacity with no drilling

3


Ranking

U.S. News & World Report has ranked the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University as the top undergraduate program among departments with a Ph.D. program (last ranked 2002).

Goals

The primary goals of the program are to produce 200 highly qualified U.S. and international students each year, to place these students in entry-level industry positions or graduate programs and to maintain our top ranking among petroleum engineering programs.

Curriculum

Our curriculum gives every student a solid foundation in petroleum engineering fundamentals, but we also insist on experience in the industry. As a result, our graduates will enter the industry ready to be productive contributors, but also will understand the need to continue to learn and improve their skills throughout their careers.

Four-year Degree Program

The four-year curriculum in petroleum engineering includes training in basic engineering sciences to prepare our graduates for the application of engineering principles to petroleum technology. Courses in geology also give an understanding of the geological structures and conditions favorable for petroleum deposits. The core petroleum engineering curriculum applies mathematics, science and engineering science to the various aspects of drilling for and producing valuable commodities from subsurface deposits. Our graduates learn how to formulate and solve the engineering problems related to petroleum development.

Undergraduate Enrollment 2014–2015

Petroleum department student count: 666 (excludes freshmen*)

Dwight Look College of Engineering: 10,556

Texas A&M University: 44,681*Incoming freshman for 2014-2015 were not separated into departments, but listed only as engineering majors.

Student Quality 2014–2015

Petroleum department students who were national merit scholars: 47 (out of 666)

College of Engineering incoming students in the top 10 percent of their class: 45.3 percent

College of Engineering incoming student mean composite SAT score: 1,280

Diversity

16 percent female

22 percent minority

Scholarships

$656,170 total

408 students received department scholarships

Bachelor Degrees Awarded

December 2014: 31

May 2015: 145

August 2015: 5

Cumulative since 1930: 4922

Undergraduate Program

4


Ranking

Texas A&M University has been awarding master’s (M.S.) and doctorate (Ph.D.) degrees in petroleum engineering for more than 60 years. The graduate program of the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering is currently ranked second in the nation, tied with Stanford University, according to U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Graduate Schools. We have the largest number of Ph.D. students and the largest number of Master of Science students of any petroleum engineering program in the nation. We also have the leading distance-learning program in petroleum engineering with about 150 Masters of Engineering students enrolled.

Research

Both the Master of Science and Ph.D. programs offer opportunities to conduct original research, working closely with one or more members of the petroleum engineering department’s nationally recognized faculty. The Masters of Engineering (M.Eng.) program allows accepted applicants to work on their degree from anywhere in the world through distance learning.

Graduate Enrollment – 2014-15

Petroleum engineering – masters students: 279; doctoral: 127

College of Engineering – masters students: 1,903; doctoral: 1,488

Student Quality – 2014-15

Petroleum engineering new GRE mean score – 156 verbal, 156 quantitative

College of Engineering new GRE mean score – 151 verbal, 151 quantitative

Diversity

22 percent female graduate students

56 percent international students

Student Funding

$121,000 in fellowships

51 fellowships awarded

Degrees Awarded

December 2014 – Masters: 41; Ph.D.: 8

May 2015 – Masters: 30; Ph.D.: 9

August 2015 – Masters: 17; Ph.D.: 9

Cumulative since 1930 – Masters: 1442; Ph.D.: 355

Graduate Program

5


Research

Research Contract Awards 2015

Federal 509,285 4%

Industry 12,095,886 95%

State Agency 79,526 1%

Total 12,684,697

Research Expenditures 2015

Federal 381,755 5%

Other 1,139,509 15%

Industry 5,732,954 78%

State Agency 119,056 2%

Total 7,373,274

Research Expenditures

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

11.0

12.0

13.0

14.0

Mill

ions

of D

olla

rs

September 1, 1992 - August 31, 2015

Federal 5%Other 15%

Industry 78%

State Agency 2% Federal 4%

Industry 95%

State Agency 1%

The department has a large, diverse research portfolio covering virtually all aspects of petroleum engineering research. The sources of research awards and the research expenditures are shown on this page. The growth in the research funding attracted by the faculty over the past twelve years has been dramatic.

The following pages highlight many of the research groups within the department.

Departmental Research Budget

6


Acid Stimulation Research Program

Core flooding experiment for wormhole efficiency study.

The Acid Stimulation Research Program (ASRP), led by the faculty members and conducted by a team of graduate and undergraduate student researchers, focuses on the innovated technology of matrix stimulation. The program includes extensive experimental studies of various aspects of acidizing processes and theoretical studies that are developing improved models to simulate the complex process of acid stimulation and its effects on production enhancement. Research in the program includes analyses of field treatment data provided by program sponsors and experiments using core samples supplied by sponsors. The current ASRP Phase I was completed in December 2015.

The principal investigators leading this program are Drs. Dan Hill, Hisham Nasr-El-Din and Ding Zhu. The research projects consist of the development of new models for wormhole efficiency prediction in matrix treatments with the effects of formation heterogeneity under extreme reservoir conditions, both from experimental and theoretical developments; simulation tools of acidizing for horizontal wells; the influence of sea water, produced water and other saline water on stimulation efficiency; the fundamental kinetics of new chemicals and additives such as viscoelastic surfactant and GLDA that improve effectiveness and reduce further damage of stimulation processes; and development of new acid systems. Using integrated formation evaluation methods to classify formation rock for improved efficiency of stimulation is also included in the research program.

Aggie Drilling Research Group

Omir Kaldirim, master’s student in petroleum engineering, and some of the testing equipment he helped engineer.

The Aggie Drilling Research Group (ADR), headed by Dr. Jerome Schubert, completed the construction of a new dual gradient drilling lab located in the University Services Building. The equipment is currently set up to model a deepwater dual gradient riser/subsea pump/return line system utilized in ultra-deepwater drilling. The deepwater drilling industry has been developing dual gradient drilling technology to mitigate many of the drilling problems that are common while drilling in water depths greater than 6,000 feet.

The lab is designed to help the industry better understand what will happen in the junction between the marine drilling riser and the subsea pump. Current ADR work studies the behavior of natural gas entering the riser, one of the difficulties BP had to deal with. The source of the gas can be from the formation that is drilled up and circulated to the surface. Due to pressures in the formation, gas contained in the pore spaces of the rock that is drilled up will expand as it is brought toward the surface. This lab should help visualize the path this gas takes.

Gas can also enter the wellbore from kicks. Currently gas from kicks is kept out of the riser by closing the blowout preventers and circulating it to the surface via a small diameter choke line. A high-pressure choke at the surface is adjusted to impose backpressure to the well so that the kick can be killed properly. Newer risers are being designed with gas handling equipment installed in the top of the riser. Part of this ADR study will develop procedures where the riser itself can be utilized in handling this gas from kicks. This type of research will help future drilling operations recognize and avoid the dangerous pressure situations that led to the Macondo blowout, and possibly create safer equipment to further reduce risk.

Research on the fundamentals of viscoelastic surfactant.

7


The Chevron Petrophysical Laboratory features a state of the art Toshiba Aquilion RXL computed tomography scanner with 3-D advanced visualization software. The scanner is a high-precision instrument that can measure the porosity, fluid density and changes in saturation in core samples and enhanced oil recovery flood experiments such as water, gas or CO2 flooding. It can also be used to visualize natural fractures in core samples and wormhole propagation in cores exposed to acid treatments. The lab officially opened in April 2014 and plays host to several research projects, one of which is featured below.

Improving oil recovery from an unconventional liquids reservoir (ULR) is a major challenge. Knowledge of recovery mechanisms and interaction of fracture fluid additives with the rock is fundamental in tackling the problem. The Wettability Alteration Using Surfactants to Improve Oil Recovery from Unconventional Liquid Reservoirs project, run by graduate student Johannes Alvarez and advised by Dr. David Schechter, is focused on analyzing the

Chevron Petrophysical Imaging Laboratory

The Toshiba Aquilion TSX-101A CT scanner housed in the Chevron Petrophysical Laboratory.

effect of surfactants and complex nano-fluids (CnF) in altering the wetting behavior of a ULR, and improving ultimate recovery.

Altering the wettability with chemical additives (surfactants and CnF) is a proven phenomenon as shown in Fig. 1. Change in wettability is accompanied by alteration of the interfacial tension (IFT). This project carefully evaluates these interactive variables to improve oil recovery by alteration of capillary pressure based on understanding the wetting state of a ULR with and without chemical additives. The original ULR wettability is determined by contact angle at reservoir temperature. Surfactants at field concentrations are then evaluated to gauge their effectiveness in altering wettability.

Potential for improving oil recovery via chemical additives in ultralow permeability shale cores has been investigated by spontaneous and forced imbibition experiments using modified Amott cells

and core flooding systems at reservoir conditions. The computed tomography (CT) scanner is used to visualize the movement of the fluid as it penetrates into liquid rich shale samples, This technology uses X-rays to produce tomographic images of specific areas of the cores, allowing researchers to see inside them and to determine fluid imbibition real time to model flow-back (Fig. 2). In addition, oil recovery is recorded with time to compare the performance of surfactants and fracture fluid alone.

Test results show that fracture fluids with surfactant additives are better at recovering oil from shale core and have higher penetration magnitudes when compared to fracture fluid water without surfactants, which agrees qualitatively with wettability and IFT alteration. Additionally, the use of CT scan technology enables a better understanding of recovery mechanisms and provides valuable information to model flow-back behavior.

Fig. 2—CT images for core 1 (slice 50), core 2 (slice 48) and core 3 (slice 53) showing changes in CT number as a function of time. Cores in surfactants (1 and 2) shows marked positive change in CT numbers compared to core in frack water (3). (Alvarez and Schechter 2015).

Fig. 1—Changes in contact angle from oil-wet to water-wet with addition of surfactants and CnF’s.

8


Crisman Institute for Petroleum Research

Graduate researchers performing tests with a profilometer.

The Crisman Institute for Petroleum Research is a unique program for academia. Founded in 1984 with a $1 million endowment to support research in reservoir management, the Crisman Institute endowment has grown to a current permanent endowment of more than $5 million. In addition, annual memberships in Crisman are offered to Industry. Since Crisman was restructured in 2005, 10 to 20 different companies have been members of Crisman. These companies help set the research agenda and benefit from the research results. Researchers in the Crisman Institute work closely with industry to identify and solve significant hydrocarbon recovery research problems.

The goals of the Crisman Institute are to develop technology and processes to reduce uncertainties and costs in the finding and development of petroleum resources. We also work on technologies to improve oil and gas recovery, especially in unconventional reservoirs. Our work focuses on the construction of databases of known resources to provide analogs to new resource opportunities and to develop technologies that either diminish the costs involved in existing technology applications or that amplify the reserves per completion as a result of better technology. We address both costs and the ultimate recovery per completion where applicable in our research efforts.

Since 2005, the Crisman Institute has funded a total of 240 projects of which 200 are complete. During 2013-2014 there were 24 active projects with an average of 35 Crisman-supported graduate students per semester.

Much of the research conducted through the Crisman Institute has resulted in the development of software and databases that are used by industry. An additional benefit member companies have experienced is the opportunity to become familiar with our students and their research, which has often led companies to hire them post-graduation.

Foundation CMG Chair Research

A 3-D visualization room: Image provided by Foundation CMG, a not-for-profit company.

The Foundation CMG Chair in Robust Reduced Complexity Modeling in Reservoir Engineering, directed by Drs. Eduardo Gildin and Mike King, was established two years ago with the objective of enhancing the current practices in reservoir simulation by (1) tackling the “reduced complexity modeling” paradigm for reliable reservoir management and optimization applications as a basis for decision support under uncertainty; and (2) formulating a structured model hierarchy that encompasses adequate comprehensive computer models for each tier, with an underlying error analysis, that can be used as a tool for assessing complex reservoir models used in the optimization.

The co-chairs currently direct a research team of 25 students, including graduate, undergraduate, and post-docs spanning multidisciplinary backgrounds. To date, the seed funds provided by FCMG allowed the leverage of more than $3 million. Among several accomplishments, this initiative can highlight novel model reduction formulation applicable to reservoir simulation and optimization with twofold computational savings; novel data-driven modeling based on state-space capacitance resistance model; innovative research in model selection based on pattern recognition; and novel solutions to the Buckley Leverett Equation with capillary corrections.

Both Gildin and King participated in the 2015 FCMG Summit in Calgary. This annual summit is the main venue for showcasing cutting-edge research and development in petroleum engineering, especially to meet the existing, emerging and future technical and social needs for the upstream petroleum sector, and to recognize excellence in training students and postdocs. The chairs also had the opportunity to share their projects during the 2015 Society of Petroleum Engineers Reservoir Simulation Symposium (SPE RSS) by holding a poster session after the conference with invited people from industry and academia.

9


Global Petroleum Research Institute

Mobile test laboratory

The Global Petroleum Research Institute (GPRI) Produced Water Treatment Research Group evaluates advanced membrane filtration processes in actual field operations. Their mobile test laboratory is capable of producing more than 500 gallons of water per day from frac flowback brines and produced water. Process technology incorporates hydrocarbon removal, solids removal (including microbial activity) and dissolved metals. In the last four years, the mobile facility has developed customized water treatment trains for operators in the Marcellus Shale, Barnett Shale, Woodford and Eagle Ford Shales and in the Permian Basin.

GPRI also provides companies with the ability to take their analytical instrumentation into the field for trials. Recently students working with the GPRI engineers developed both frac water and biological monitoring kits for field operations by landowners and field operators.

Heavy Oil, Oil Shales, Oil Sands, and Carbonate Analysis and Recovery Methods

The Heavy Oil, Oil Shales, Oil Sands, and Carbonate Analysis and Recovery Methods (HOCAM) is a research group focused on education and research for the recovery of unconventional oil resources with very low API gravity and high viscosity. The main objective of HOCAM is to find environmentally friendly and economic production solutions for challenging reservoirs including heavy oil, oil shale, oil sand, and carbonate host-rock environments.

HOCAM investigates the effectiveness of several thermal recovery methods with laboratory-scale experiments. Mainly, they simulate the reservoir conditions in the laboratory to investigate the performance of in-situ combustion, hot fluid injection (steam/hot water/hot gas flooding, steam assisted gravity drainage, and cyclic steam injection), and electrical and electromagnetic heating methods for different petroleum resources. They analyze the experimental results to enhance the performance of lab-scale experiments by combining both thermal and non-thermal methods, and upscale the laboratory results to the field-scale numerically.

HOCAM also investigates both the physical and the chemical changes taking place during the extraction of heavy oil, bitumen, and oil shale resources as factors that may enhance or inhibit oil recovery. They study the physics of each recovery mechanism by analyzing the structural changes in molecules with several spectroscopy methods, such as X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). They analyze the reaction kinetics with ThermoGravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Furthermore, they use X-ray computerized tomography to calculate the pore-scale physical changes such as wettability, relative permeability, permeability, porosity, and fluid saturation for each thermal recovery test.

The ultimate goal of this research is to educate and train engineers to find practical solutions for the recovery of these unconventional oil resources using thermal enhanced oil recovery (thermal-EOR) methods.

Water treatment tests Asphaltene separation test

10


Model Calibration and Efficient Reservoir Imaging

Drainage Volume in an Unconventional Reservoir described using the Diffusive Time of Flight, integrating a 3D geologic model with discrete fractures

The Model Calibration and Efficient Reservoir Imaging (MCERI) industrial research consortium at Texas A&M University has been at the forefront of reservoir modeling, history matching and streamline simulation technologies for well over the last decade. Much of the mathematical foundations behind modern streamline simulation have been developed in the research consortium, which is co-directed by Dr. Akhil Datta-Gupta and Dr. Michael J. King.

The research focus of MCERI involves the development of fast history matching algorithms for high-resolution geologic models, streamline simulation and applications, fast marching methods for unconventional reservoir modeling and analysis, smart wells and production optimization, multi-scale data integration (specifically, geophysical and dynamic data), and upscaling/upgridding. The consortium emphasizes the involvement of industry for guidance on research areas, for technology transfer, and to test and validate the rigorous but practical algorithms that produce the best solutions.

Major accomplishments for the 2014-2015 academic year include a novel approach for production data transient analysis for the drainage volume within shale gas/oil reservoirs, a comprehensive shale gas/oil reservoir simulator using the fast marching method, a novel formulation for complex fracture systems characterization and classification using production data, candidate selection for refracturing of shale oil wells, optimization of CO2 floods and storage using rate control, compositional history matching using streamlines, and history matching three phase production data using streamlines.

MCERI currently supports 14 Ph.D. students, 10 Master of Science students, and one research associate. It is supported by 13 member companies.

Skoltech Center for Hydrocarbon Recovery

Streamline Simulation (above) Multiscale Modeling (right)

Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University faculty members I. Yucil Akkutlu, Eduardo Gildin, and John Killough began a five-year project in cooperation with the Skolkovo Institute of Technology (Skoltech) in their Center for Hydrocarbon Recovery near Moscow. This multi-million dollar project focuses on high performance computing and reservoir simulation. Two particular areas have been emphasized by Killough’s student research group: fast approximate simulation and topological data analysis.

The fast approximate simulator combines two areas of research – streamline simulation and multiscale modeling – to achieve realistic simulations in a fraction of the time:

The topological data analysis (TDA) aims to extract meaningful information from complex reservoir data. This in turn can provide realistic reservoir simulations. TDA relies on the concept that complex data has shapes and these shapes can be translated into information. The objective of this research is to use topological data analysis to study a variety of complex data in reservoir engineering. From seismic to real-time production data, complex data in quantity, quality, heterogeneity and non-linearity can be investigated.

11


Topological data analysis of synthetic 4D seismic data showing clustering and compartmentalization

12


SaraAbedi

Assistant Professor

Sara Abedi joined the department in January 2015. She obtained her Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Southern California in 2012, and was a postdoctoral research associate for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She currently teaches reservoir petrophysics to sophomore petroleum engineering majors. Her research interests include experimental and theoretical microporomechanics, nano-chemomechanical characterization of porous materials, geomechanics, and granular material failure and flow. She is the contact person for the Geomaterials for Energy Use and Environmental Sustainability Laboratory.

IbereAlves

Professor of

Engineering Practice

Ibere Alves has been with the department since January 2015. He was formerly a senior technical advisor for artificial lift and flow assurance at Petrobras for 33 years. He holds a Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma and currently instructs classes on petroleum production systems such as production operations, oilfield equipment, multiphase flow, bottomhole pressure prediction and other introductory knowledge to undergraduate students.

Alves has several years of both theoretical and experimental research and development experience in the field of production engineering, particularly deep-water production, artificial lift and field development. He was part of a multidisciplinary project with Shell and a computer modelling group to develop a next generation simulator for Canadian production facilities.

Faculty

I. YucelAkkutlu

Associate Professor

I. Yucel Akkutlu is the graduate advisor for the department and also the William Keeler Faculty Fellow. Akkutlu’s research interests include phase behavior of multi-component fluids in nanoporous materials, shale gas and oil resource assessment and characterization, and CO2-enhanced shale gas and oil recovery. He serves as the principal investigator for a project sponsored by Flotek Industries to research the impact of complex nanofluids on production in the emerging shale oil plays.

Akkutlu served as a SPE Distinguished Lecturer from 2014-2015 and received the 2014 AIME Rossiter W. Raymond Memorial Award at the SPE annual banquet in Amsterdam.

StacyAschenbeck

Lecturer

Stacy Aschenbeck is a lecturer with the communications department and teaches petroleum engineering technical presentation courses. Her research interests include public speaking, technical communications, and group communications. She is currently on the Rubric Development Committee for CORE course evaluations at Texas A&M.

One of the department’s greatest achievements this past academic year has been the numerical increase of faculty. We added five new tenure track faculty, two professors of practice, and one lecturer. We also welcomed back two formerly retired faculty: Steve Holditch and John Lee. This brings our total faculty to 41, with 27 being tenured/tenure-track faculty. This makes us the largest petroleum engineering faculty in the country by almost a factor of two over the next largest.

The benefit to our students in terms of reasonable student to faculty ratios is obvious.

13


WalterAyers

Visiting Professor

Walter Ayers is researching availability and suitability of brackish and saline water for fracture stimulation of the Eagle Ford Shale, South Texas. He currently teaches graduate courses on unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. His other research interests include: conventional clastic and carbonate oil and gas reservoirs; unconventional reservoirs, including shale gas and oil, coalbed methane, tight sands gas, and heavy oil; unconventional gas resource assessments; CO2 sequestration in geologic media; clastic and coal depositional systems, and related hydrology; and industry short courses in petroleum geology and unconventional gas and oil reservoirs.

Maria A.Barrufet

Professor

Maria Barrufet is the director of distance learning for the department. She is also the Baker Hughes Endowed Chair. Her research interests include evaluation of different methods to desalinate oilfield brines; unit operation aspects of evaporators, membranes, osmotic separation, heat transfer, energy and mass balance computations; enhanced oil recovery using thermodynamics and transport phenomena; multiphase flow; and rock and fluid properties.

In 2015, Barrufet received the SPE North America Gulf Coast Regional Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty.

PeterBastian

Professor of


Peter Bastian is a career reservoir engineer with over 30 years of industry experience. He currently instructs the undergraduate integrated asset development course (capstone design) for the department, teaching students to utilize project teams to solve practical petroleum engineering problems with analysis and the application of reservoir engineering principles.

AkhilDatta-Gupta

Regents Professor

Akhil Datta-Gupta is the holder of the L.F. Peterson ’36 Chair and is associate department head. He has research interests in rapid flow simulation techniques, reservoir optimization, large-scale parameter estimation via inverse methods, and uncertainty quantification and assessments. He directs the joint industry project Model Calibration and Efficient Reservoir Imaging (with Dr. Michael King), which develops theoretically sound but practical approaches to data assimilation and model calibration (history matching) during reservoir modeling and forecasting.

Datta-Gupta was named a 2014 Texas A&M University Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award recipient for Research, an award given only to those professionals who exhibit the highest standards of excellence at Texas A&M. He was awarded a three-year grant to support the project, “Time-Lapse Seismic Monitoring and Performance Assessment of CO2 Sequestration in Hydrocarbon Reservoirs,” with funding provided by the Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, and Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy.

FredDupriest

Professor of


Fred Dupriest has research interests in drilling performance workflows, drilling mechanics theory and practices, lost circulation theory and practices, stuck pipe avoidance, borehole

Thomas A.Blasingame

Professor

Thomas Blasingame is the current holder of the Robert L. Whiting Professorship. He was also a member of the U.S. Department of Energy Methane Hydrates Advisory Committee through 2015.

Blasingame received the 2014 SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty, which recognizes superior teaching, excellence in research, significant contributions to the profession and special effectiveness in advising students. He specializes in teaching and researching topics related to reservoir performance analysis, such as unconventional reservoirs, production and pressure transient data analysis, petroleum reservoir engineering and technical mathematics. His research efforts with his students have led to the development of many reservoir engineering products; their work is referenced widely with several of their developments incorporated in industry-standard software and analysis methodologies.

14


A. DanielHill

Professor

A. Daniel Hill is the department head and the current holder of the Stephen A. Holditch ‘69 Department Chair. In 2014, Hill was presented with the SPE John Franklin Carll Award in recognition of his distinguished contribution in the application of engineering principles to petroleum development and recovery. He is on the current SPE board of directors where he serves as the director for academia.

He is a recognized expert in production engineering, specializing in carbonate acidizing, sandstone acidizing, acid fracture conductivity, and well completion performance.

areas, including wellbore heat transfers, transient transport processes, and wellbore and reservoir fluid flow. Hasan, author of the SPE textbook Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in Wellbores, currently teaches transport processes in petroleum production to undergraduate students, and guides graduate students to improve production practices through optimization of artificial-lift mechanisms and analysis of production logs. His research interests include wellbore heat transfer, transient transport processes, and wellbore and reservoir fluid flows. He is one of the co-principal investigators managing the Ocean Energy Safety Institute.

BernaHascakir

Assistant Professor

Berna Hascakir teaches undergraduate level reservoir fluid and graduate-level enhanced oil recovery methods (thermal), enhanced oil recovery processes and waterflooding. She also teaches these three graduate level classes as electives to senior undergraduate students. In 2015, she was named one of five recipients of the prestigious 2015 SPE Petroleum Engineering Innovative Teaching Award. This award recognizes excellence in commitment to academic research and student supervision.

Hascakir’s research interests include heavy oil and oil shale recovery by thermal enhanced oil recovery methods, challenging reservoirs (such as tight heavy oil reservoirs, carbonates, reservoirs with a strong aquifer, and oil shales), thermal front tracking and the environmental impact of thermal recovery.

Stephen A.Holditch

Professor

Stephen A. Holditch has a career spanning 39 years of professional and academic service. He ran his own consulting company, he taught at Texas A&M, and he served eight years as the department head for the petroleum engineering program and two years as the head of the Texas A&M Energy Institute. He is currently the associate director for the Crisman Institute and serves as a mentor on research for the department.

Holditch was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni for his lifetime of service in 2014. An elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, he was recognized for his lifetime contributions to hydraulic fracturing technologies with the 2014 Legends of Hydraulic Fracturing Award during the SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference.

EduardoGildin

Associate Professor

Eduardo Gildin is the current CJ Craft Jr. Faculty Fellow. He is also the co-holder of The Foundation CMG Chair in Robust Reduced Complexity Modeling (R2CM) in Reservoir Engineering. Gildin has research interests in reservoir modeling and optimization for the oil and gas industry using concepts from mathematical modeling using discretization of pde’s (finite difference, finite element methods, and finite volumes), systems and control theory and model reduction of large scale dynamical systems. In particular, he is interested in closed-loop reservoir management. Gildin was promoted to associate professor and granted tenure effective September 2015.

quality management practices and advanced well control practices.

He was one of four faculty members to receive the Instructional Faculty Teaching Award in 2014 from the college of engineering. The award recognized his contribution, passion, and commitment to instruction. He teaches high-performance drilling design and operational practices to both undergraduate and graduate students.

A. RashidHasan

Professor

A. Rashid Hasan is the Larry A. Cress ’76 Faculty Fellow. He holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and has 30 years of teaching, consulting, and research experience in many

15


JohnJochen

Senior Lecturer

John Jochen is a petroleum engineer with more than 30 years of oil and gas experience, and instructs undergraduate courses dealing with the application of petroleum engineering tools, methods and techniques to solve real problems that petroleum engineers encounter while producing individual wells.

JohnKillough

Professor

John Killough, professor, is the Michael & Heidi Gatens Development Professor and an adjunct professor at Skolkovo Institute of Technology in Moscow. His interests include reservoir simulation and high-performance computing, coupled surface and subsurface reservoir models, upscaling and multiscale reservoir simulation, and relative permeability. His student research group investigates different aspects of reservoir simulation in various scales, from high performance computing methods in gigantic reservoirs, to micro scale storage and flow mechanisms in ultra-low permeability shale and fractured carbonate reservoirs.

Killough was awarded a grant from the Qatar National Research Fund for his proposal “Beyond Dual-Porosity Modeling for the Simulation of Fluid Flow in Fractured Carbonate Reservoirs.” The award is for three years for a total of more than $1 million. Professor Michael Fraim at Texas A&M Qatar is the co-investigator on this research.

JihoonKim

Assistant Professor

Jihoon Kim, assistant professor, joined the department in August 2014. Originally from South Korea, Kim received his Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from Stanford University prior to becoming a postdoctoral fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. His bachelor’s and master’s degrees are in civil, urban and geosystem engineering from Seoul National University. His areas of research interest include coupled flow and geomechanics in hydrate, shale and tight gas, and geothermal reservoirs; hydraulic fracturing, hydro-shearing, and coupled geomechanic-geophysical modeling; reservoir simulation and computational geomechanics; and nuclear waste disposal and geological CO2 sequestration.

Kim is an awarded reviewer and adept at software development, especially geomechanics simulator coding and its coupling to reservoir simulators.

MichaelKing

Professor

Michael King is assistant department head for administration and the current holder of the LeSuer Chair in Reservoir Management. His research interests include 3-D reservoir modeling and characterization, upscaling of geologic models for flow simulation, and streamline-based simulation and flow analysis. He is co-director of Model Calibration and Efficient Reservoir Imaging, a joint industry

W. JohnLee

Professor

W. John Lee was recently appointed the Chevron Faculty Fellow. Lee received his Ph.D., master’s and bachelor’s degrees, all in chemical engineering, from Georgia Institute of Technology. He is an expert on oil and gas reserves regulations and estimation, and production forecasting in unconventional gas reservoirs. He is the author of four textbooks published by SPE, Well Testing, Gas Reservoir Engineering, Pressure Transient Testing, and Applied Well Test Interpretation and six book chapters. He served as an Engineering Fellow with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission from 2007 to 2008 and provided technical assistance to the SEC in its reserves reporting rules modernization effort.

Lee is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and was an inaugural member of Georgia Tech’s Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni. He is also an Honorary Member of AIME/SPE.

project that aims for a systematic, practical and efficient approach to data assimilation, continuous model calibration and updating using dynamic data. He teaches graduate courses on upscaling of geologic models for flow simulation.

In 2014 King was awarded the Karen and Larry A. Cress ’76 Excellence in Teaching Faculty Award.

16


William D.McCain

Visiting Professor

William D. McCain was awarded the ConocoPhillips Non-Tenured Track Excellence in Teaching Faculty Award in 2014. He received his Ph.D. and master’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology. McCain has written two editions of the textbook The Properties of Petroleum Fluids, and authored and co-authored more than 45 professional articles. His research interests include reservoir engineering and management; reservoir fluid properties; reservoir rock properties; reservoir simulation, especially design of water flooding and miscible displacement; and production of volatile oils and gas condensates.

DuaneMcVay

Professor

Duane A. McVay is assistant department head for academics. He was recently awarded the Albert B. Stevens Chair Professorship in Petroleum Engineering. McVay was selected as one of the 2015-2016 SPE Distinguished Lecturers. His research interests include reservoir simulation, uncertainty quantification, integrated reservoir characterization and management, project evaluation and unconventional resources. McVay is the associate director of the Berg-Hughes Center for Petroleum and Sedimentary Systems.

BryanMaggard

Senior Lecturer

Bryan Maggard received his bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University. His undergraduate and graduate teaching areas include engineering fundamentals, numerical methods, gas reservoir engineering and application and development of numerical reservoir simulation technology. In 2014 Maggard received the Superior Energy Services Excellence in Service Faculty Award.

Priscilla G.McLeroy

Professor of


Priscilla G. McLeroy currently serves as the director of undergraduate advising. She has research interests in portfolio management, integrated reservoir management, applied decisioning, technology commercialization, and asset optimization, and teaches courses on these subjects. McLeroy has more than 25 years of operating experience with global energy companies.

Jenn-TaiLiang

Professor

Jenn-Tai Liang was awarded the John E. & Deborah F. Bethancourt Professorship. He was recently selected as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer for the 2015-2016 lecturer season. His main research focus is on developing promising uses of nanotechnology for oilfield applications in both conventional and unconventional reservoirs. Based on drug-delivery technologies from the pharmaceutical industry, his research group successfully developed a chemical delivery system that uses nanoparticles to entrap and protect the chemicals from the hostile underground environments. The current oilfield applications include delayed gelation for water shutoff and in-depth conformance control, delayed release of scale inhibitors to extend the treatment life time, wax and asphaltene inhibition for flow assurance, microbial enhanced hydrocarbon recovery, and fracture fluid cleanup.

HeitorLima

Professor of


Heitor Lima joined the faculty in August 2014. Lima received his Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University, his master’s degree in petroleum engineering from the State University of Campinas, Brazil, and his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. His research interests include deepwater drilling, deepwater well design, and advanced well control, and he instructs courses introducing drilling systems and drilling engineering to undergraduate students.

17


GeorgeMoridis

Visiting Professor

George Moridis is a senior scientist in the Earth Sciences Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), where he is the head of the Hydrocarbon Resource Program, is in charge of the LBNL research programs on unconventional resources, and leads the development of the new generation of LBNL simulation codes of coupled flow, thermal, geomechanical and geophysical processes. Moridis is a visiting professor in the Guangzhou Center for Gas Hydrate Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; he is also an adjunct professor in the chemical engineering department at the Colorado School of Mines, and in the petroleum and natural gas engineering department of the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. He holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece.

Moridis is the author or coauthor of over 75 papers in peer-reviewed journals, three book chapters, three patents, and more than 200 LBNL reports, paper presentations and book articles. He is on the editorial board of three scientific journals, an associate editor of four scientific journals, and a reviewer for 26 scientific publications.

NobuoMorita

Professor

Nobuo Morita joined the department in 2015. He was previously a tenured full professor in the Department of Resources and Environmental Engineering at Waseda University in Japan, with a rock mechanics and completion engineering lab under his direction. He has conducted consulting services in major oil companies around the world.

Morita’s contributions in the field of rock mechanics include initiating the oriented perforation technique for reducing sanding; clarifying the complex mechanism of onset of sand production; and developing new methods of casing design under geotechnical loading and new fluid loss control materials reducing formation damage. Additionally, Morita is the patent holder of a widely used stand-alone metal woven screen.

HadiNasrabadi

Assistant Professor

Hadi Nasrabadi is the W.D. Von Gonten Faculty Fellow, an endowed position given in recognition and support of his accomplishments. Nasrabadi has taught courses on reservoir simulation, basic reservoir engineering and reservoir petrophysics. His research interests include compositional modeling of multiphase and multicomponent fluid flow in porous media, CO2 enhanced oil recovery and sequestration, phase behavior of reservoir fluids, modeling asphaltene precipitation in porous media and shale gas and oil recovery.

SamNoynaert

Assistant Professor

Sam Noynaert currently teaches drilling and horizontal drilling classes at the undergraduate and graduate levels. His research interests include coiled tubing drilling, horizontal and deviated drilling, and drilling in shales.

Hisham A.Nasr-El-Din

Professor

Hisham A. Nasr-El-Din is the holder of the John Edgar Holt Endowed Chair in Petroleum Engineering. Previously, he was a principal professional and team leader of the Stimulation Research and Technology Team at Saudi Aramco, a staff research engineer with the Petroleum Recovery Institute in Calgary, and a research associate with the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Ottawa, and the University of Alberta, all in Canada. His research interests include well stimulation, formation damage, enhanced oil recovery, conformance control, interfacial properties, adsorption, rheology, cementing, drilling fluids, two-phase flow and non-damaging fluid technologies.

Nasr-El-Din has several patents and has published and presented more than 560 technical papers. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cairo University, Egypt, and a Ph.D. from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, all in chemical engineering. He has received numerous awards from SPE for his academic and industry excellence.

18


CathySliva

Senior Lecturer

Cathy Sliva team-teaches project evaluation courses dealing with the economic analysis and investment decision methods in petroleum and mineral extraction industries, and other topics related to industry projects. She works in industry and has more than 30 years of industrial experience.

TerriSmith

Lecturer

Terri Smith has a master’s degree in English from California State University and a bachelor’s degree in English from Texas A&M University. She is interested in technical writing and editing and teaches these skills to petroleum engineering students.

Jerome J.Schubert

Associate Professor

Jerome. J. Schubert received his bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. degrees in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University. He has over 35 years of experience in the petroleum industry as a drilling engineer. Schubert specializes in well control methods and training, deep water drilling, dual gradient drilling, underbalanced drilling, managed pressure drilling, extreme high temperature/high pressure rheology, cementing, gas kicks, and well abandonment. His research has resulted in three patents in dual gradient drilling, over 75 conference and journal publications, and two textbooks. He is a distinguished member of SPE.

Schubert teaches drilling systems and drilling engineering courses at the undergraduate level, and more specialized drilling and well control courses at the graduate level.

GlennSliva

Senior Lecturer

Glenn Sliva team-teaches project evaluation courses on economic analysis and investment decision methods, petroleum tax regulations, and other topics related to industry projects. He has over 30 years of industrial experience and continues to work in industry.

PeterValkó

Professor

Peter Valkó is the current holder of the Robert L. Whiting Endowed Chair in Petroleum Engineering. His research interests include performance of stimulated wells, design and analysis of hydraulic fracturing treatments, and numerical inversion of the Laplace transform.

TeriReed

Associate Professor

Teri Reed is the assistant vice chancellor for engineering academic affairs. She also serves as the assistant agency director of workforce development for the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES).

Reed was among those honored at the 2015 Diversity Awards ceremony in April 2015 when she received the Women’s Progress Award — Administrator. She and co-author, Dr. P.K. Imbrie, received the William Elgin Wickenden Award of the American Society for Engineering Education in June 2015.

DavidSchechter

Associate Professor

David Schechter is the current holder of the Aghorn Energy Career Development Professorship. His research interests include the Spraberry trend area, geological and petrophysical analysis, wettability determination and imbibition experiments, numerical modeling, reservoir simulation, and CO2 flooding and gas injection. He currently teaches undergraduate courses on formation evaluations and the capstone design course.

Schechter was recently awarded SPE Distinguished Membership, given to members who achieve distinction deemed worthy of special recognition.

19


GeorgeVoneiff

Professor of


George Voneiff is the co-chair of the Texas A&M University Department of Petroleum Engineering’s Industry Advisory Board, and is currently the director of Unconventional Gas Resources, a private E&P company based in Canada, and the CEO of its U.S. affiliate, Unconventional Resources, LLC.

Voneiff’s research interests involve applied petroleum economics in unconventional plays, statistical analysis of large datasets from unconventional formations, and large-scale production data analysis using empirical techniques. He teaches petroleum project evaluation and management to graduate students.

KanWu

Assistant Professor

Kan Wu began her position as assistant professor in the department in January 2015. She received her Ph.D. in petroleum engineering in 2014 from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include modeling of complex hydraulic fracture development in unconventional reservoirs, interaction analysis of hydraulic fractures with natural fractures, coupled geomechanics/fluid flow modeling, analysis of wellbore strengthening, and evaluation of well performance from unconventional gas and oil reservoirs.

She has conducted internship research for both Schlumberger and Chevron and has assisted in teaching courses on reservoir geomechanics and petrophysics. She currently instructs undergraduate courses on production engineering.

RuudWeijermars

Professor

Ruud Weijermars joined the department as a professor in November 2014. He specializes in analytical modeling and finding the key parameters that control a process or system, and his current research interests include geomechanics of reservoirs and wellbores and petroleum economics and energy system modeling. He teaches graduate courses in reserves and evaluations.

Weijermars received his bachelor’s degree in geology and his master’s degree in structural geology from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He earned his Ph.D. based on laboratory modelling of mantle convection at the Hans Ramberg Tectonic Laboratory at the University of Uppsala in Sweden, which provided him with a solid understanding of fluid dynamics and continuum mechanics. He has published three books and over 150 referred journal articles.

DingZhu

Professor

Ding Zhu is the current holder of the L.F. Peterson ’36 Professorship. She has conducted and supervised research projects in production optimization, well stimulation, horizontal well application and intelligent completions. She has been a principle investigator for several Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America funded projects in unconventional resource fracture conductivity study and using downhole sensing technology to diagnose flow and fracture performance, and she is a co-principle investigator for the Acid Stimulation Research Program and the Acid Fracturing Project.

In 2014 Zhu was awarded the Karen E. Olson ’87 and Louis H. Turner Excellence in Research Faculty Award.

He teaches transport processes in petroleum production to undergraduate students and hydraulic fracturing technology at the graduate level. Valkó also chairs the department’s undergraduate curriculum committee.

20


David Burnett

TEES Associate Research Scientist

Director of Technology of GPRI

Research Faculty and Staff

Jiajia Cai

TEES Research Scientist

Huili Guan

TEES Research Assistant Professor

Ying-Ying Lin

TEES Research Assistant Professor

Frank Platt

TEES Research Engineer

GPRI

Carl Vavra

TEES Assistant Research Scientist

GPRI

Joevan Beladi

Technical Assistant II

Facilities

Kathy Beladi

Senior Administrative Coordinator

Department Head Office

Don Conlee

Senior Research Technician

Facilities

Jason Demshar

Assistant Director of IT

Computer Support

Mary Lu Epps

Senior Information Specialist II

Distance Learning

Laura Hall

Program Coordinator

Distance Learning

Staff

Phaedra Hopcus

Senior Program Specialist I

MCERI/Administration

Gail Krueger



Nancy Luedke

Communications Coordinator

Engineering Communications

John Maldonado, Sr.

Facilities Manager

Facilities

Timothy Meekma

Business Coordinator III

Business Office

Barbi Miller

Lead Office Assistant

Graduate Program

Carol Mumford

Senior Academic Advisor


Betty Robbins

Administrative Coordinator

Administration

Eleanor Schuler


Graduate Program

Rudy Schultz

Business Administrator II

Business Office

Jo Ann Scott

Administrative Assistant

Crisman Institute/Administration

Ted Seidel

Manager

Distance Learning

Stuart White

Information Technology Professional I

Computer Support

John Winkler

Business Coordinator III

Business Office

21


The Petroleum Engineering Industry Board promotes the continuous improvement of the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering. Members serve on committees focusing on the undergraduate program, the graduate and research programs, outreach programs, former student programs and development. Its members are nominated from a variety of sources and selected by the department head. The board holds formal meetings twice a year.

Current members:

Kathy Beladi (Secretary to the Board) – Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M

Greg Bird ‘82 - Jetta Operating Co., Inc.

Elizabeth J. Cantrell ‘96 - Concord Oil Company

Clay Carrell ‘88 - EP Energy

Jeff Coburn ‘82 - Direct Sales, Halliburton

Andrew Coleman ‘94 - Raymond James & Associates

Andrew W. Coolidge ‘86 - Devon Energy Corporation

J. Ross Craft ‘80 - Approach Resources Inc.

William Deupree ‘83 - Escondido Resources II, LLC

David Dunlap ‘83 - Superior Energy Services

David Dunton ‘85 - Alpine Gas Company

Jeff Elkin ‘80 - Empresa Energy

Brad Fisher ‘83 - Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc.

Tim Friesenhahn ‘86 - XTO Energy Inc.

Erin Gage (Development Officer) - College of Engineering Development Office

J. Michael Gatens ‘80 - Unconventional Gas Resources

Terry Gerhart ‘84 - Noble Energy

Frosty Gilliam, Jr. ‘80 - Aghorn Energy, Inc.

Jay Graham ‘92 - WildHorse Resources Management Co.

Dan Hill ‘74 (Ex-Officio Member) - Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M

John H Hollowell ‘79 - Shell Energy Resources Co.

Jeff Honeck ‘82 - Estancia Oil & Gas LLC

Steve Horn ‘79 - Ronin Partners LLC

Mark Houser ‘83 University Lands

Ramona Hovey ‘89 - Independent Consultant

Peter D. Huddleston ‘80 - Huddleston & Co., Inc.

A. Carl Isaac ‘87 - Crimson Exploration Inc.

Janeen Judah ‘81 - Chevron Africa and Latin America E&P

Karl Kurz ‘83 - Independent Investor

Ted Lafferty ‘92 - Schlumberger

Trent Latshaw ‘75 - Latshaw Drilling & Exploration Co.

Eric Long ‘80 - USA Compression

Richard Lonquist ‘87 - Lonquist & Co.

Donald Lovingfoss ‘87 - Lovingfoss Energy

Jeffrey W. Miller ‘85 (Industry Board Co-Chair) - Vortus Investments

Stephen Miller ‘79 - Crescent Consulting, LLC.

Rick Moncrief ‘81 - Caiman Energy, LLC

Richard Morrison ‘80 - BP America

Karen Olson ‘87 - Southwestern Energy

Douglas B. Otten ‘65 – Nexen Petroleum USA Inc. (retired)

Jennifer Palko ‘95 - Athlon Energy

David Pursell ‘85 - Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co Securities Inc.

Terry Rathert ‘75 - Newfield Exploration Company (retired)

Lance Robertson - Marathon Oil Corp

Mark Rubin ‘81 - Society of Petroleum Engineers

John D. Schiller, Jr. ‘81 - Energy XXI

Ken Sheffield ‘82 - Pioneer Natural Resources

Catherine Sliva ‘80 – Redrock Development Ventures

Pat Smith ‘81 - Headington Energy Partners, LLC

M. Sean Smith ‘83 - EnCap Investments, L.P.

Travis Stice ‘84 - Diamondback Energy

Mike W. Taylor ‘74 - Lone Star Land & Energy II, LLC

George Voneiff ‘83 (Industry Board Co-Chair) - Unconventional Gas Resources

Max Vordenbaum ‘80 - Stephens Energy

Joe Wright ‘82 - COG Operating LLC

Clifford Zwahlen ‘87 - Concho Resources

Alumni Industry Board

The proof of the effectiveness of any engineering department is the accomplishments of its graduates. This is the measure that shows why the Texas A&M petroleum engineering program stands out as one of the best in the nation.

While the success of our graduates continues to astound, it is their willingness to give back to the program that has allowed this department to attain its current prominence both nationally and internationally.

22


Chaparral Energy and Fischers’ donation establishes new enhanced oil recovery center at Texas A&M

Texas A&M University’s Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Oct. 7, 2014 for the newly established Chaparral-Fischer CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery Center. The lab was established with a $1.75 million donation from Chaparral Energy and SuSu and Mark Fischer ’72 to the Texas A&M Foundation.

Fischer is chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Chaparral Energy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Chaparral Energy is the third-largest operator in the United States for CO2 enhanced oil recovery based on the number of active projects. The Chaparral-Fischer CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery Center, overseen by principal investigator Dr. David Schechter, associate professor and Aghorn Energy

Contributions and Gifts

Chaparral-Fischer CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery Center

Career Development Professor, will be used to study and improve the use of carbon dioxide as an enhanced oil recovery agent

in both conventional and unconventional reservoirs.

Injecting carbon dioxide into an oil reservoir frees up trapped oil by lowering its viscosity to improve flow rate, enhancing and extending the production life of an oilfield. Most of the carbon dioxide used for injection occurs naturally, but some energy companies, such as Chaparral Energy, are using manmade carbon dioxide captured from emissions produced by industrial

plants in various industries. Rather than being released into the atmosphere, the carbon dioxide is captured and then routed via pipeline to oilfields and then injected into oil producing reservoirs.

The donation from Chaparral and the Fischers will also support several graduate students in petroleum engineering who will be helping researchers investigate the potential to increase oil recovery and the identification of the recovery mechanisms and their impact in unconventional reservoirs. In conventional reservoirs, researchers will focus on understanding the sweep efficiency issues related to CO

2 flooding in heterogeneous and fractured rocks. They also will look into continuous CO2 injection, water-alternating-gas (WAG), chemically aided WAG, direct CO2 thickening and the use of nanoparticles.

“We are honored to help cultivate the next generation of industry leaders with support of the Chaparral-Fischer CO2 lab at Texas A&M University,” said Fischer. “It is this continuous pursuit for improvement that not only propels Chaparral, but our industry as a whole. By providing tools and resources such as this, we hope to fuel innovation for decades to come.”

“We deeply appreciate the generosity of this gift from Chaparral and the Fischers,” said Dr. M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of engineering. “By forming partnerships with industry leaders such as Chaparral, we are able to enhance our students’ educational experiences by giving them opportunities to work on real-world engineering challenges here at Texas A&M.”

The Fischers have been longtime supporters of both academics and athletics at Texas A&M, and recently contributed $12 million to the construction of the university’s Engineering Education Complex, in support of Texas A&M Engineering’s 25 by 25 initiative.

By forming partnerships with industry leaders such as Chaparral, we are able to enhance our students’ educational experiences

23


Flotek Industries, Inc. Developmental Professorship and Initiative Fund

Flotek Industries, Inc. donated $500,000 to establish the Flotek Industries, Inc. Developmental Professorship and $500,000 to establish the Flotek Industries, Inc. Oilfield Chemistry Initiative Fund. These donations will endow a full-time professorship in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University and will also be used to expand educational opportunities for petroleum engineering degree candidates to gain exposure and expertise in chemistry applications in oil and gas drilling, completions and production.

“We are honored to partner with one of the premier petroleum engineering schools in the United States and the world to forge new ground in creating a chemistry component to an already exceptional menu of educational opportunities for petroleum engineering students at Texas A&M,” said John Chisholm, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Flotek. “As we believe chemistry is the next frontier in advancing oilfield productivity, we believe it is critical to expose the next generation of petroleum engineers to the importance and power of chemistry in the process. Our partnership with Texas A&M will do just that, through the classic educational experience as well as internship opportunities with Flotek and joint research ventures focused on the next generation of oilfield chemistry technologies. We look forward to a long and mutually rewarding partnership with Texas A&M.”

“Our university is delighted to partner with Flotek and is appreciative of their support and vision to create a new focus on oilfield chemistry,” said Daniel Hill, Noble Chair and head of the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

at Texas A&M. “The expansion of our curriculum to better cover the growing focus on chemical technology in the oilfield will only strengthen our department and create more comprehensive educational opportunities for our students. We look forward to continuing our already significant relationship and partnership with Flotek as we move forward with this important initiative.”

Former students establish scholarship to benefit two colleges

Alexandra Wisniewski ’10 and Michael Nance ’08 of Houston, have joined together to create the Alex Wisniewski ’10 and Michael Nance ’08 Endowed Scholarship.

The endowment, created through the Texas A&M Foundation, will be used to provide one or more scholarships to full-time students in good standing pursuing an undergraduate degree in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering in the Dwight Look College of Engineering or from any department within the Mays Business School. The award will alternate each year between a petroleum engineering student and a business school student.

Nance received his bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering in 2008 and is employed by Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and Wisniewski is a 2010 recipient of a bachelor’s in business administration.

Contributions to the endowment were made in part by friends and family of Nance and Wisniewski in addition to matching funds from Anadarko.

Other donations

The Roughneck scholarship program ($2,000 annual award) is a new four-year, needs-based scholarship awarded to hard-working, low- to middle-income students

who maintain a minimum 2.5 GPA. Recent contributors:

Robyn and Embry Canterbury ‘94, who donated $168,000

April and Jay Graham ’92, who donated $500,000

Tina L. ’82 and M. Sean ‘83 Smith, who donated $75,000

Generous contributions were made to the William “Doug” Von Gonten ‘56 Excellence Fund for Faculty Enrichment:

Peter D. Huddleston, ‘80, who donated $30,000

Angie B. ‘84 and William R. “Billy” ‘83 Lemmons, Jr., who donated $250,000

Catherine and Kenneth Sheffield, Jr. ‘82, who donated $107,499

EnerVest Management Partners, Ltd., contributed $25,000 to the Mark and Lou Houser Scholarship in Petroleum Engineering.

Joe Foster ‘56, donated $50,000 for the Newfield DVG Developmental Professorship.

Patrick A. Graham ‘86, created a fellowship with a $500,000 donation.

Stephen Horn ’79 and the Horn Family Foundation donated $25,000 for the Stephen Horn ’79/Horn Family Foundation Scholarship in petroleum engineering.

Ann ‘84 and Britt ‘83 Pence donated $100,000 to the Alex Wisniewski ’10 and Michael Nance ’08 Endowed Scholarship

Petro-King Oilfield Technology, Ltd., donated $100,000 in support of faculty, specifically toward Ph.D. research focusing on developing and improving a hydraulic fracturing network propagation model with an integration of field data analysis.

Edlyn A. ‘86 and David A. ‘85 Pursell donated $50,000 to the Stephen A. Holditch ‘69 Department Head Chair in Petroleum Engineering.

Our university is delighted to partner with Flotek

24


Academy of Distinguished Graduates

David E. Lancaster ‘79, Trent Latshaw ‘75, Brent J. Smolik ‘83, and E. Joseph Wright ‘82 were inducted into the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering’s Academy of Distinguished Graduates during the Fall Industry Board Dinner on Sept. 11, 2014. The academy was developed by the Industry Board as a way to recognize and acknowledge the petroleum engineering department’s most distinguished former students. To qualify for membership, a former student must have earned a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science or Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University; have graduated at least 15 years before induction; and have made notable contributions to the petroleum engineering profession or to the petroleum industry.

Lancaster serves the dual role of both COO and CFO at Matador Resources, which he joined in December 2003. Prior to working for Matador, he held the position of marketing manager for Schlumberger

Data & Consulting Services worldwide from 2000 to 2003. In this role, he was responsible for global marketing strategies, commercialization of new products and services, and marketing communications. From 1999 to 2000, he was business manager, North and South America for Schlumberger Holditch-Reservoir Technologies. In this position, Lancaster was responsible for the business operations of 12 consulting offices throughout North and South America. Prior to this, and immediately following the acquisition of S.A. Holditch & Associates by Schlumberger in 1997, he served as senior vice president for business development, and was responsible for all business development, marketing and sales functions as well as the

Awards

company’s commercial training business. He joined S.A. Holditch & Associates in 1980, serving in a variety of positions from 1980 to 1997, ranging from senior petroleum engineer to senior vice president, where he helped to build the company into a well known and highly respected consulting organization. Lancaster began his career as a reservoir engineer for Diamond Shamrock Corporation in 1979.

He holds Bachelor of Science (1979) and Master of Science (1988) degrees in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University, and has authored or co-authored more than 50 technical papers and articles, as well as numerous other published reports and industry presentations. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and has served on and chaired several society and local section committees. He served as a charter member and former vice chairman of the Texas A&M University Petroleum Engineering Advisory Board. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas.

Latshaw is the president and owner of Latshaw Drilling & Exploration Co. He graduated from Texas A&M University in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree in petroleum engineering. Latshaw then worked for

Parker Drilling in Alaska as roughneck, motorman, derrick man and relief driller, both on land and offshore. He also worked for ARCO Alaska (Atlantic Richfield) as a drilling engineer in its offshore district covering the Gulf of Alaska and Cook Inlet.

Latshaw founded Latshaw Drilling Company (Houston) in 1981 at the age of 27. He built two new 20-25,000’ diesel-electric/SCR land drilling rigs at a cost of more than $8 million each. During the downturn of the mid-1980s to the early 2000s, when it was tough to survive as a

drilling contractor, he shifted gears and began acquiring repossessed drilling rigs and equipment from financial institutions and at auctions. From 1986 to 1992, Latshaw Drilling bought 10 complete drilling rigs and other major components having a new replacement cost in excess of $100 million for $5 million. During this downturn he also acquired oilfield equipment manufacturers Mathey-Leland and Cooper Manufacturing, both of which were later bought by National Oilwell Varco. He served as chairman of the Houston Chapter-International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) in 1991. In 2003 he began operating rigs again. Latshaw started with one 1,000 horsepower mechanical rig that had been purchased during the downturn. A couple of years later he started building new diesel-electric rigs based on long term contracts with companies such as Chesapeake Energy, XTO Energy, Encore Energy and Denbury Resources, Inc. Over a nine-year period (2003-2012) the company grew from one rig to 41 rigs and Latshaw Drilling became the second largest privately owned drilling contractor in the United States with over 1,000 employees. Latshaw Drilling has made the Aggie 100 list in 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2014.

Smolik is president, CEO and chairman of the board of EP Energy Corporation. He was previously executive vice president and a member of the Executive Committee of El Paso Corporation. He also

served as president of El Paso Exploration & Production Company from November 2006 until its acquisition by a private equity group led by Apollo and Riverstone in May 2012. Prior to joining El Paso, he was president of ConocoPhillips Canada and prior to the Burlington Resources merger with ConocoPhillips, he was president of Burlington Resources Canada beginning in

25


Distinguished Alumnus Award

Dr. Charles H. Bowman, a 1959 graduate of Texas A&M University and former head of the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering, was one of 12 recipients of the

2015 Distinguished Alumnus Award. The award, presented by Texas A&M and The Association of Former Students, is the highest honor bestowed upon a former student of Texas A&M.

Bowman rose to the top of the oil industry, becoming CEO of BP America in 1993. Following retirement from BP in 1997, he joined Texas A&M as head of the Department of Petroleum Engineering, and later led the negotiating team that created a new Texas A&M campus in Qatar, eventually serving as its interim dean and a member of its joint advisory board. He is now dean emeritus of Texas A&M University at Qatar and professor emeritus of petroleum engineering. He

received a Bachelor of Science degree from Penn State University and received both a Master of Science degree and Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M. Among the gifts he and wife Lynn Holleran have given Texas A&M are endowments for International Programs, the Department of Petroleum Engineering’s Resource Center and the College of Liberal Arts’ Cervantes Project, as well as a College of Engineering faculty fellowship.

Since the inception of the award in 1962, only 249 of Texas A&M’s 425,000 former students have been recognized with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Awarded jointly by the university and The Association, this award recognizes those Aggies who have achieved excellence in their chosen professions and made meaningful contributions to Texas A&M University and their local communities.

“These honorees embody the core values that we seek to instill in each of our students,” said Dr. Mark A. Hussey ’79, who was Texas A&M’s interim president during the recipients’ selection. “They are all leaders in their professions and communities and are most deserving of this recognition.”

2004. Smolik joined Burlington Resources in 1990 as a reservoir engineer and subsequently held engineering and asset management positions in the Denver, Offshore Gulf of Mexico, San Juan, and Gulf Coast regions. His experiences across North America include operations, asset management and mergers and acquisitions. He began his career with ARCO in Houston where he held several drilling and reservoir engineering positions.

Smolik received a Bachelor of Science degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University in 1983. He serves on the boards of the American Exploration and Production Council, the Greater Houston Partnership, Communities in Schools of Houston, The Center for Hearing and Speech and the Engineering Advisory Council of Texas A&M University. He is affiliated with SPE and the Texas Board of Professional Engineers.

Wright has been the chief operating officer of Concho Resources, Inc. since Nov. 8, 2010 and the executive vice president since November 2013. Wright previously served as senior vice president and chief

operating officer and as vice president of Engineering and Operations since the company’s formation in February 2004. Before that time, Wright served as vice president of operations/engineering of Concho Oil & Gas Corporation from its formation in January 2001 until its sale in January 2004, and as vice president of operations for Concho Resources Inc. (which was a different company from the current company). He has also worked in several operations, engineering, and capital markets positions at Mewbourne Oil Company.

Wright is a 1982 graduate of Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in petroleum engineering.

26


Dwight Look College of Engineering Outstanding Alumni Honor Award

Janeen Judah ’81 and William D. Von Gonten, Jr. ’87 were two of eight recipients of the Dwight Look College of Engineering Outstanding Alumni Honor Award in 2015.

Judah is the general manager of Chevron’s Southern Africa business unit in Houston with several hundred Houston-based employees and billions of dollars committed to offshore

development projects. Judah was responsible for environmental cleanup, remediation and decommissioning for global operations as president of the Chevron Environmental Management Company. Before that, she was general manager of Reservoir and Production Engineering for Chevron Energy Technology Co., responsible for global reservoir and production engineering research and services. Judah worked for Texaco and ARCO in various engineering positions before joining Chevron.

Judah has held many leadership positions in the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), starting as a student section officer at Texas A&M, chairing both the Gulf Coast and Permian Basin sections, and on the international Board of Directors as Gulf Coast North America Region director, current vice president of finance and will be the 2017 SPE president. Judah is a member of the Dwight Look College of Engineering Advisory Council and, since 1996, the Petroleum Engineering Industry Board.

She holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M as well as an MBA from The University of Texas of the Permian Basin and a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center.

Von Gonten, Jr., is president, owner and founder of W.D. Von Gonten & Company and W.D. Von Gonten Laboratories, LLC. The Houston based company opened for business in 1995, and currently

employs a combination of highly talented and skilled reservoir engineers, geologists and petrophysicists. Von Gonten’s appetite for attempting to solve what others see as unsolvable, has repeatedly earned him the respect of industry peers and thought-leaders alike. Recently Von Gonten brought a vision to reality for a “Rock Lab.” Located in Research Park on the Texas A&M campus, W.D. Von Gonten Laboratories, LLC is a state-of-art laboratory focusing on well core analysis and interpretation, ultimately providing client recommendations regarding fracture landing point optimization. The lab is currently evaluating well cores provided by clients from around the world.

Von Gonten’s father, the late Dr. W.D. “Doug” Von Gonten, Sr., was an influential professor and department head whose 25 years of service resulted in the remarkable growth of petroleum engineering at Texas A&M.

The younger Von Gonten earned a Bachelor of Science degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M in 1987. Von Gonten’s deep-rooted beliefs in family and tradition, his appreciation and respect for individuals who exhibit a “take initiative” attitude, and his successful petroleum engineering career have all been driving forces behind his selfless time and financial support to Texas A&M.

The 100 fastest-growing Aggie-owned or Aggie-led businesses in the world were recognized at the 10th Annual Aggie 100 program, sponsored by the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. The Aggie 100 focuses on growth as an indicator of job creation, product acceptance and entrepreneurial vision.

Of the companies on the list, three of the top 10 companies are owned or led by Texas A&M Engineering graduates and 29 of the 100 companies are owned or led by Aggie engineers. Seven petroleum engineering former students made the list:

Jay Graham ’92, President and Founder of WildHorse Resources, LLC (27)

Anthony Bahr ’91, CEO and Founder of WildHorse Resources, LLC (27)

Grant Swartzwelder ’85, President, Owner and Founder of OTA Compression, LLC (49)

William E. Deupree ’83, President, CEO, Owner and Founder of Escondido Resources II, LLC (64)

Richard R. Lonquist ’87, President, Owner and Founder of Lonquist & Co. LLC (89)

Robert S. Crews ’90, Vice President, Owner and Founder of Lonquist & Co. LLC (89)

Trent B. Latshaw ’75, President and Owner of Latshaw Drilling & Exploration Company (96)

CIMA Energy, LTD., owned by petroleum engineering graduate Thomas K. Edwards ’87, won the Summit Award for the highest three-year average revenue. This is the third year the Summit Award has been presented.

Aggie 100

27


Scholarship Recipients

2011 Petroleum Engineering Industry Board Scholarship

Garrett Y. Cross

Mark W. Albers Scholarship

Jonathan Soto Ortega

Benny Altman Memorial Scholarship

Glenn R. Hudson

Kevin A. Stoller

James W. “Bill” Amyx Memorial Scholarship

Jason M. Rauseo

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation

Stephen A. Barletta

Jacob A. Baynham

Annie G. Besson

Jenna L. Bragg

Robert R. Carlton

Mitchell P. Cirioli

Shawn P. Dillon

David G. Hess

Hunter C. Huddleston

Mustafa H. Hussein

Robert L. Jordan

Ricardo Juarez

Lindsay M. Kalberer

Andrew J. Kazlow

Hailey A. Kryszewski

Connor M. McKown

Ashley M. Mills

Yash P. Mistry

Alexander K. Mitchell

Christopher L. Nace

Colin R. Nester

Boone S. Niederhofer

Dylan J. Waak

Daniel C. Walter

Matthew M. Wiese

API Houston Chapter Scholarship

John T. Blanchard

Michael C. Bryant

Christopher D. Eustice

Shawn M. Guice

Joshua D. Hanchera

Reed A. Hermes

Ryan K. Knebel

Ruben J. Martinez

Grant M. Meloche

Tyler F. Moehlman

Tyler J. Quigley

Eugenio M. Ramirez

Adrian D. Rangel

Charles Z. Ransome

John M. Redfearn

Kurtis W. Sanstrom

Byron C. Sherman

David M. Smith

Kyle M. Soares

Renxiang Tang

Gregory A. Taylor

Trung Tonthat

Lucian M. Williams

Nicholas J. Zander

Battlecat Oil & Gas Scholarship

Matthew S. Tomberlin

Mr. John E. ‘74 and Deborah F. ‘76 Bethancourt Scholarship

Lyndsey G. Duvall

Gregory A. Bird ‘82 Scholarship

Jason Zhao

Travis L. Booher ‘62 Endowed Scholarship

James L. Bevan

Ivan S. Chamata

BP-Amoco Foundation Grant

Patrick B. Griffin

Ritthy L. Son

Brenda Bridges and Dr. Bill McCain Scholarship

Jacob M. Fisher

William T. Oakes

Thomas W. Read

The following pages list students who received academic financial support through the department during the 2014-2015 academic year, and the generous benefactors responsible for these funds.

28


E.C. “Ned” Broun ‘45 Endowed Scholarship

Arsalan A. Abbasi

Keenan A. Abraham

Trey N. Tomlin

J.L. Burkhart ‘57, B.J. Reid ‘79, BRG Petroleum Inc. Scholarship

Jonathan T. Hsia

Laurelei and J.C. Burton ‘60 Scholarship

Forrest C. Field

Margot & Al Byington ‘58 Scholarship

Marcela A. Martinez

Margo & Powell Campbell ‘66 Scholarship

Austen H. Anderson

Sebastian A. Chavez

Abdelrahman S. Issa

Chesapeake Energy Corporation

Austin D. Cantwell

Benjamin J. Faith

Kristin N. O’Brien

Tyler K. Rheinlander

Jacob L. Sloan

Jordyn M. Slocum

Allison C. Weimer

Mason R. Whittington

Matthew R. Williamson

Andrew J. Wlazlo

Chevron Corporation Grant

Evan P. Bao

Raquel M. Belnap

Sean W. Buechele

David S. Cantu

Andrea N. Carter

Austin J. Draughon

Jacob P. Farmen

Nathan A. Fernandez

John W. Freeman

Stephen R. George

Dylan T. Guthrie

Cody J. Kainer

Luke C. Lau

Eli J. Lauffenburger

Steven F. Little

Neil B. Longenbaugh

Cameron D. McCartney

Michele L. Mistretta

Conner D. Mowery

Amanda L. Nelson

Ryan T. Ozio

Zachary C. Pfluger

Jacob L. Sloan

Catherine E. Sparkes

Luke P. Strother

Hunter B. Swerdloff

Joseph T. Wachsman

Matthew S. Walker

Kirk R. Wallace

Andrew T. West

Chevron Corporation Scholarship I

Carter D. Henderson

Chevron Corporation Scholarship II

Kyle D. Zimmermann

Concho Resources Scholarship

Lauren H. B’Oris

Austin T. Chaney

Derrek A. James

Heidi A. Karp

Matthew J. Sasso

Dru R. ‘80 & M. Scott Cone ‘82 Scholarship

Leigha T. Alexander

JoAnn & Michael Cone ‘60 Scholarship

Madison E. Hayes

Blake A. Hermes

ConocoPhillips Scholarship

Allison E. Buettner

John M. Christman

Sara N. Edwards

Alana R. Low

Bailey C. Stang

Michelle Yang

Christy D. and Mark A. Conrad ‘90 Scholarship

Matthew W. Fitzgerald

Dr. Paul B. Crawford Memorial Scholarship

Matthew B. Corsi

Thien D. Nguyen

CRS Proppants/Stephen R. Horn ‘79 Grant

Eric C. Bosley

Charles W. Carson

Bohyung Choi

Phillip A. Clemmons

Calen R. Collins

Virginia C. Giroir

Jacob A. Gritte

Patrick C. Hargrove

Jarred L. Helms

Derek S. Hess

Hannah E. Korenek

Hunter A. Lahasky

Kevin Y. Ma

Joann M. Mazoch

Carson Z. Muscat

Ross H. Neskora

Travis C. Runge

Ryan A. Skeffington

Heather N. Sulaica

Preston J. Tidwell

Anne M. Weaver

Ryan D. Whitmire

Corey W. Wittig

Zhibin Ye

Anjie Zhi

Patricia & Jerry B. Davis ‘52 Scholarship

Gojko Matovic

Ernest F. Dean ‘54 Scholarship

Matthew M. Cannon

Philip C. Richard

Richard C. “Dick” Durbin ‘56 Endowed Scholarship

Stephen V. Cantu

Nathan W. Eldridge

Meagan D. Soto

Nicholas R. Timmermann

29


William D. Edman ‘62 Global Student Endowed Scholarship

Andrew G. Abbott

Brady C. McClain

Valarie and Jeff Elkin Scholarship

Michael A. Grant

Joy and Ralph Ellis Scholarship

Melissa J. LeRoy

J. Ralph Ellis, Jr. ‘52 Endowed Scholarship

Claire S. Mullen

Mark and Julia Ellis Scholarship

Robert T. Leidy

Nicolas A. Osa

ENI US Operating Company

Juan C. Diez

Cullen A. Guglielmo

Christopher A. Joiner

Xiaofeng Li

John M. Wleczyk

Raymond H. Eubank ‘48 Family Scholarship

Ryan C. Jicha

Kelli Marie Flanagan ‘06 Memorial Scholarship

Alaina R. Eoff

Fort Worth Wildcatters Association Scholarship

Clayton B. Crews

Joe B. Foster ‘56 Scholarship

Ryan A. Hernandez

Henry A. Gilbert Memorial Scholarship

Chad M. Bourne

Dimitri C. Critsinelis

Joseph A. Decker

Miranda C. Jones

Brian C. McCluskey-Ferrer

Gregory C. Obi

Dalton J. Prihoda

Jack H. Reagor

Stephen M. Rivera

Benjamin Williams

Rhonda & Frosty Gilliam, Jr. ‘80 Scholarship

Joshua D. Lachner

Laura Pelaez Soni

The Grey Wolf Drilling Company Scholarship

Amulya J. Agarwal

Clayton A. Cox

Evan T. Roback

Lauren E. Whitney

Adam Zhu

Mary Lou & Jimmie D. Harrington ‘47 Scholarship

Claire R. Fiorenzi

Hess Foundation Academic Scholarship

Matthew C. Beck

Austin T. Grant

Grant J. Melson

Carlos M. Menendez

Henry & Jean Holland ‘45 Scholarship

Benjamin T. Hoffman

Mark and Lou Houser Scholarship

Andrew M. Bakke

Ryan T. Reyna

Scott and Ramona K. Hovey ‘89 Scholarship

Shirley Y. Zhang

B.P. Huddleston Scholarship

Kenneth J. Ashworth

B.P. and F.M. Huddleston ‘56 Scholarship

Hanyu Li

Kenneth R. Huddleston I Endowed Scholarship

Christopher J. Amoruso

Jeremiah R. Benner

Bradley B. Burt

Melissa M. Garrett

Ryan S. Schenkewitz

K.R. Huddleston II Honors Scholarship

Corey L. Jones

Chad A. Schrumpf

Andrew C. Weldon

Peter D. Huddleston ‘80 & Kathy B Huddleston ‘81

Gabriel R. Siegel

International Association of Drilling Contractors Scholarship

Ariel Stephane Tankouan Tankoua

A.C. Isaac ‘87 Scholarship

Daniel M. Coats

Omar C. Ghannoum

Nan and Joe Johnson ‘51 Scholarship

Calvin M. Caraway

Richard L. “Dick” Jones, Jr. ‘55 Scholarship

John A. Blissard

Clint R. Rothe

Nathan C. Thames

Wallace O. Keller Memorial Scholarship

Kyle M. Chandler

Aimee C. Jenks

Kyle Kepple ‘92 Scholarship

David C. Sonka

Dottie and Henry (Buddy) G. Kleemeier ‘66 Scholarship

Benjamin C. Tiemeyer

Joyce Whiting Kraemer Scholarship

Courtney L. Brown

Travis B. Chapman

Mary Claire Pollard

Ashlee M. Sweep

Landen C. Tinar

M. Scott Kraemer ‘43 Scholarship

Ryan C. Barber

Andres Garza

Sterling S. Lacy Jr. ‘46 Scholarship

Joseph A. Cox

Justin C. Eastwood

Tim and Amy Leach Scholarship

Travis D. Yuille

Dr. W. John Lee Scholarship

Jesus H. Maltos

30


Phong G. Tran

Austin Y. Tung

Omer M. Yasin

Fred M. Lege III Scholarship

Jackson N. Klein

Jack E. & Carolyn H. Little ‘60 Scholarship

Samuel H. Alders

Paula & Bill Lonquist ‘48 Scholarship

Alex C. Lambros

Mark J. Melton

Ada and Don Lovingfoss ‘87 Scholarship

Jeffrey M. Leblanc

Gary J. Mabie ‘65 Scholarship in Petroleum Engineering

Ahmed Abassi

Marathon Oil Company

Chase H. Graves

Gregory M. Hoffman

Brooks M. Taylor

James G. Tollette

Courtney S. Walker

Joseph A. Marek ‘57 Scholarship

James W. Yancy

Matlin Corporation/Permian Basin Aggies Scholarship

William R. Tindol

Merit Energy Company Scholarship

Imad Adel Abdelraouf

Bohao Cheng

Lois and Willard Miller Scholarship

Sammazo J. Plamin

Susan W. & Jeffrey W. Miller ‘85 Scholarship

Michael C. Kay

Jeff Montgomery Endowed Scholarship

Clayton W. Davila

The Nancarrow Family Scholarship

Liam H. Tobin

Randolph Newcomer, Sr. ‘57 Scholarship

Jonah A. Noureddine

Hermilo Ortiz

Newfield Exploration Company Scholarship

Jesse W. Burttschell

George A. Odum ‘67 Endowed Scholarship

Matthew C. Faubel

B.D. O’Neal ‘53 Scholarship

Alstair J. Nojek

Ann G. and Charles K. Orr ‘57 Scholarship

Eliza A. Bornman

Glenda & Doug ‘65 Otten Scholarship

Meghan N. Johnson

Joseph L. Larakers

Phillip W. Price

Paul H. Shaunessy

Grant D. Stein

Reid M. Towart

Dr. Philip Oxley Scholarship

Zachary K. Bateman

Petroleum Engineering Faculty Scholarship

Pierre C. Kana Nguene

Petroleum Engineering Industry Board Scholarship

Kexin Cui

Dr. Larry D. Piper ‘57 Scholarship

David Verastegui

Kevin D. Wiggs

Jessie & Max Powell ‘49 Scholarship

Michael J. Ostrowski

Mr. Edward O. Price, Jr. ‘50 Scholarship

Kaylee Y. Kaigler

QEP Resources Education Foundation Scholarship

Meredith A. Bussell

Colin R. Dickerson

Ashley N. Findley

Jare H. Hargrove

Davis W. Johnston

Bradley S. McMickle

Shane M. Parish

Darius J. Pitre

Preston E. Pope

Reid A. Scofield

James M. Sparks

Carolyn R. Treneer

Brent E. Vering

Randall & Dewey Scholarship

Corryn N. Mills

Terry W. Rathert ‘75 Scholarship

Adam R. Lapucha

Captain Phil R. Rickey Memorial Scholarship

Jose J. Gonzalez

Nathan P. Yeary

Charles A. Rohan Memorial Scholarship

Shahin Amin

Xinyi Gou

Earl J. Hoover

Luke A. Westmoreland

Marita and Earl E. Rossman, Jr. ‘54 Endowed Scholarship

Brian Y. Chin

William D. Warner

Marita and Earl E. Rossman, Jr. ‘54 Scholarship

Benedikt A. Scheifele

Kristi & John D. Schiller ‘81 Scholarship

Connor J. Knight

Mary Sue and Col. Albert D. Schutz ‘40 Scholarship

Johann Cherian

Cathy and Glenn Sliva Scholarship

James T. Skinner

SM Energy Scholarship

James E. Matl

Ted H. Smith Jr. Scholarship

Yuze Jing

Andreas A. Prakoso

31


SPE Dallas Section Scholarship

William T. Baycroft

Bradley E. Burnside

Yibin Chen

Clayton B. Crews

John H. Drozd

Heidi A. Karp

Jackson N. Klein

Nguyen T. Nguyen

Ritthy L. Son

James G. Tollette

Mason R. Whittington

Kevin D. Wiggs

Tianhang Zhou

Mr. & Mrs. Horace G. Spiller, Sr. Endowed Scholarship

Colton D. Krenek

Corey A. Wood

Statoil

Hassan J. Daramsis

Austin M. Hahn

James L. Hervey

Victoria A. Najvar

Daniel T. Ochsner

Katrina M. Schilling

Niraj G. Shah

Jennifer L. Wisler

Diana S. Stepan ‘94 Scholarship

Gretchen A. Kelley

Cheryl & Michael W. Taylor ‘74 Scholarship

Zebadiah S. Hornbuckle

Harold J. Vance I Endowed – SPEE Scholarship

Matthew A. Adesuyi

Craig M. Collins

Tianhang Zhou

Harold J. Vance Scholarship for Excellence

Connor E. Barnett

Alejandro B. Fano

Shane J. Farren

Jireh Groenow

Callum A. Hevle

Garrett L. Hunt

Jordan S. Jacobs

Tyler S. Lawrence

Trevor J. Long

Kyle Hieu A. Luong

Adesanmi Momoreo

Nural K. Muradli

Kang Han Park

Diego D. Perez-Garcia

Cristian A. Quinteros

Mattheuw Rodriguez

Charles G. Speer

Joseph P. Summers

Patrick R. Tafallo

Zachary J. Taylor

Tan N. Tran

June and Laman Vance Memorial Scholarship

Bradley E. Burnside

Dylan R. Morales

Douglas Von Gonten Memorial Scholarship

Taylor Q. Bartay

Carson W. Brickey

Kyler W. Clark

Daniel M. Cortines

Ignacio A. De Barros Barreto Scavone

Omar A. Garza Aguilar

Megan M. Keller

Jacob M. Smith

William W. Tarpley

Shangjie Yue

Dr. Doug Von Gonten Scholarship

Jordan D. Argamany

Zachary R. Barham

Benjamin K. Bates

Jackson B. Beard

Jonathan A. Berner

Erik J. Dengler

Andre J. Denis

Weihao Ding

Ahmed M. El-Toukhy

Matthew T. Hoelscher

Murry Wayne Holditch

Philip Jurecka

Joshua D. Kingma

Philipos Melake

Javier Morales

Austin H. Pettyjohn

Travis M. Preston

Duo Qiu

Anthony M. Salvitti

Ethan G. Siegel

Ryan W. Springer

Brooke E. Wilkins

Courtney J. Willcox

Joshua Wymer

Preston S. Young

Kelly & Bill Von Gonten ‘87 Scholarship

Cole C. Barron

Steve Wade ‘72 Memorial Scholarship

John H. Drozd

Fred G. Walsh ‘74 Scholarship

Edgar A. Aguilar

Joseph H. Wellborn, Sr. ‘41 Endowed Scholarship

Mark A. Rudolph

Robert L. Whiting Memorial Scholarship

Matthew R. Johnson

Whiting-Pinson Scholarship

Kenneth W. Furches

Brandon T. Gowisnock

Madison L. Hollaway

Brian E. Richards

Robert J. Wyrick

James H. Wilkes Scholarship

Joshua G. Gervais

Patricia and Conley Williams Scholarship

David F. Ragland

Roger J. Wolfe Scholarship

Soon-Ho Hwang

32


Local Competition 2015

The Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering held its annual Student Paper Contest (SPC) for 2015 on Jan. 31 with the runoff competition held Feb. 7. This event was sponsored by industry donations totaling $46,900, over half of which went to the students as award money. Each year industry members help judge the event. This year 130 industry representatives were involved with the contest. Without their continued support, this event would not be as successful as it is. Many of the industry volunteers are former students who competed in past paper contests and believe in the value of the competition and the learning opportunities it provides.

After two Saturdays of competition (488 students for the preliminaries and 55 for the runoffs), the Texas A&M division winners were named:

Juniors: first place – Kristina Klock; second place – Trey Tomlin; third place – Juan Diez

Seniors: first place – Andrew Abbott; second place – Amanda Nelson; third place – Jonathan Soto Ortega

Students

Masters: first place — Emmanuel Oyewole; second place – Clay Strack; third place – Raphael Coelho

Doctoral: first place – Ernesto Valbuena; second place – Karin Gonzalez; third place – Mohammadreza Ghasemi

The objective of the SPC is to develop technical presentation skills in students. Participation is required of all juniors, seniors and graduate students, who orally present the results of their graduate research or independent study of a petroleum engineering problem to a panel of judges from industry and academia. Presentations are 10 to 15 minutes followed by a five-minute question and answer period with the judges.

The first and second place seniors, masters, and doctoral division winners advance to the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Gulf Coast Region SPC, one of several regional contests held by SPE. In the regional competitions, the students compete against other students from their region for the opportunity to participate in the 2015 International SPC in the fall.

Juniors, from left: Diez, Klock, and Tomlin

Seniors, from left: Nelson and Ortega

Masters, from left: Oyewole, Strack, and Coelho

Ph.D.s, from left: Valbuena, Gonzalez, and Ghasemi

Student Paper Contest News

No academic program can be outstanding without outstanding students, and we are fortunate to have such bright, talented individuals choose to become Aggie petroleum engineers.

33


Regional Competition 2015

Texas A&M University was awarded five top places at the 2015 SPE Regional SPC. For the Aggie petroleum engineering students, participation in the regional contest began after the local winners were announced Feb. 7.

First and second places of the senior, masters and doctoral division winners competed in the Gulf Coast Region SPC, hosted at Rice University in April. Students from University of Houston, Rice, and Texas A&M displayed outstanding projects in different areas of petroleum engineering. Aggies were awarded top places in all divisions:

Undergraduate: first place - Andrew Abbott; second place - Amanda Nelson

Masters: first place - Clay Strack; second place - Emmanuel Oyewole

Doctoral: first place - Ernesto Valbuena

First-place winners will compete at the SPE International Student Paper Contest, held at the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in Houston near the end of September 2015.

Ryan Rice, who graduated in May 2014, was awarded third place in the undergraduate division. Rice, who currently works for Rice Energy in Pennsylvania, presented on the topic “Identifying the Ideal Stimulation Design via Multivariate Analysis.”

Junjing Zhang, who graduated in August 2014 and now works for ConocoPhillips, presented on the topic “Fracture Conductivity Damage by Water in the Shale Formation.” His paper focused on research he performed for a project sponsored by the Crisman Institute for Petroleum Research at Texas A&M and the RPSEA program of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Regional participants, from left: Strack, Nelson, Abbott, Dr. Michael King, Oyewole, Gonzalez, and Valbuena

International Competition 2014

Junjing Zhang was awarded first place in the doctoral division and Ryan Rice was awarded third place in the bachelor’s division in the 2014 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) International Student Paper Contest held during the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) in the Netherlands in October 2014. These achievements involved many hours of preparation and coaching, and three levels of competition over a 10-month period.

The process began with the Texas A&M University Petroleum Engineering Department’s 2014 Student Paper Contest (SPC) held on Feb. 1. Ryan Rice finished first place in the undergraduate division and Junjing Zhang placed first in the doctoral division.

First and second place undergraduate, masters, and doctoral division winners from the 2014 Texas A&M SPC moved on to the 2014 SPE Gulf Coast Region SPC, one of the regional contests held by SPE. In these regional competitions, the students compete against other students from their region for the opportunity to participate in the International Student Paper Contest. The 2014 Gulf Coast Region SPC was hosted in April at the University of Houston. Texas A&M petroleum engineering students received prizes in each of the three divisions: Undergraduate first place, Ryan Rice; Masters third place, Katherine Briggs; and Doctoral first place, Junjing Zhang

As first-place winners, Rice and Zhang went on to compete at the SPE International meeting in October where they faced all the first-place winners from all the other regions. In addition to competing in the International SPC, all participants were also required to submit a written paper on their work to be included in the conference proceedings at the 2014 ATCE.

Rice, on left

Zhang, on right

34


Petroleum student organization celebrates 83 years

The Texas A&M University student chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineering (TAMU SPE) celebrated its 83rd anniversary, marking its history as one of the oldest student organizations on the campus.

When the chapter members originally began to make plans for the celebration, they thought it was for the organization’s 25th anniversary, the number provided to the student officers by the national SPE office. After much research, and speaking with previous chapter advisors, the current officers discovered that the chapter is one of the oldest student organizations at Texas A&M. Prior to its affiliation with SPE in

SPE Student Chapter

(from left to right) Dan Hill, department head; Lindsay Kalberer, TAMU SPE vice president; Ding Zhu, professor; Jennifer Wisler, TAMU SPE president, and Steve Holditch, former department head

1978, the organization was simply known as the Petroleum Engineering Club, starting in 1940. Before that, beginning in 1932, it was known as the Petroleum Engineering-Geology Club. Some of the oldest former students suggest that there may have been a petroleum engineering student organization from the inception of the petroleum engineering degree in 1928.

Anniversary celebration attendees

On Feb. 26, the SPE student chapter held a celebration honoring its 83rd anniversary and the history behind it. The celebration at the Memorial Student Center was attended by former students and current students, and featured distinguished speaker, Dr. Stephen Holditch. There was also a slide show of memorable moments contributed by former and current students.

The current student organization has over 1,300 members, making it one of the largest student organizations on campus and the second largest SPE student chapter in the world. The TAMU SPE student chapter has won recognition many times during the past years as the “outstanding” SPE Student Chapter, including 2015. Its members are involved in many community organizations and the chapter provides resources to student scholarships via its fundraising. In addition, the student chapter continues to provide opportunities for students to enhance their technical and professional competence by learning from and networking with current professional engineers.

Some of the oldest former students suggest that there may have been a petroleum engineering student organization from the inception of the petro-leum engineering degree in 1928.

35


Career Enhancement Event

Texas A&M University’s SPE Student Chapter held its SPE Career Enhancement Event (CEE) in 2014 at the Texas A&M Memorial Student Center. Over 600 students interested in a career in the petroleum industry attended. Nearly 100 recruiters from 28 oil and gas companies were present to seek out potential full-time employees and interns. This was one of the largest events the Texas A&M SPE Student Chapter has ever hosted.

The CEE is a recruiting event exclusive to Texas A&M University students interested in the petroleum industry, which provides opportunities for students to learn more about the petroleum business and develop career goals. All 28 companies presented for five minutes to explain their own company strategy and the opportunities they have for students. Companies ranged from large-scale integrated corporations,

Company presentation participants

like BP, to service companies and independent companies such as Vanguard Natural Resources.

During the career networking, students were able to speak to companies of their interest. With new accommodations, more opportunities, and more involvement of SPE members, the 2014 CEE was an outstanding improvement to last year’s event.

This was one of the largest events the Texas A&M SPE Student Chapter has ever hosted.

Student check-in

Event attendees

36


A team of engineering students from Texas A&M University placed second in the inaugural Drillbotics Competition hosted by the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section (SPE DSATS). Four teams participated in the competition: The University of Texas at Austin (third place), Texas A&M University (second place), The University of Oklahoma (first place), and Norway’s University of Agder (fourth place). Panels of judges working in the petroleum industry visited each university to watch as the students tested the automated drill rigs they created.

The competition was created to give students the opportunity to test their engineering and teamwork skills by establishing their own multidisciplinary teams of four to five students to build a miniature robotic drilling rig inside a lab. When finished, they used these automated drilling rigs to drill a sample formation provided by DSATS. The goal was to drill the multi-rock layered sample with the fastest, straightest hole in the most energy- and cost-efficient manner.

First Drillbotics competition includes team from Texas A&M

The Texas A&M team included graduate students John Kim (petroleum engineering), Prudhvi Maddineni (electrical and computer engineering), Seounghyun Rho (petroleum engineering), and Narendra Vishnumolakala (petroleum engineering). Student Enrique Zarate (petroleum engineering) served

as an adviser. The team was also advised and assisted by Dr. Satish Bukkapatnam’s research group (industrial and system engineering), and Dr. Eduardo Gildin and Dr. Sam Noynaert (petroleum engineering).

“I am very proud of these students. They did a great job, especially for a competition in its first year which had quite a few questions and uncertainties throughout

They did it all on their own, with only a limited amount of help from the faculty.

the entire process,” said Noynaert. “They did it all on their own, with only a limited amount of help from the faculty.”

Baker Hughes and National Oilwell Varco provided the drill bits and drill strings. The students designed and built (or had built) all of the other rig components, including the automated control systems.

The competition took 13 months from start to finish. As part of the competition challenge, materials provided to the teams were purposely changed from expected specifications. This forced quick adaptations and redesigns by the teams, and produced unusual outcomes that reflected the difficulties brought on by real world situations industry often faces in the field.

The only time human intervention was allowed was during the placement of the drill bit on the surface of the formation.

(from left to right) team members Vishnumolakala and Rho with Zarate, an adviser.

37


There were 184 May 2015 graduates in the Department of Petroleum Engineering: 144 Bachelor of Science, 19 Master of Engineering, 11 Master of Science, and 9 Doctor of Philosophy.

Students Graduating with Honors

Cum Laude (3.5-3.6)*:

Keenan A. Abraham

Kenneth J. Ashworth

Zachary K. Bateman

Robert R. Carlton

Ignacio A. De Barros Barreto Scavone

Benjamin J. Faith

Matthew C. Faubel

Virginia C. Giroir

Austin T. Grant

Benjamin T. Hoffman

Earl J. Hoover

Abdelrahman S. Issa

Cody J. Kainer

Alana R. Low

Joshua D. Mathews

Grant J. Melson

Ashley M. Mills

Amirul Amin B. Mohammad Naim

Conner D. Mowery

Nguyen T. Nguyen**

Andreas A. Prakoso

Brian E. Richards

James G. Tollette

Tan N. Tran

Dylan J. Waak

Ryan D. Whitmire

Samuel A. Wilson

John M. Wleczyk

Shangjie Yue

Tianhang Zhou

Magna Cum Laude (3.7-3.8)*:

Imad Adel Abdelraouf

Shahin Amin

Stephen V. Cantu

Calvin M. Caraway

Ashvin A. Chandrakant

Hassan J. Daramsis

Juan C. Diez

Weihao Ding

Jun Jie Yeoh

Jeffrey M. Leblanc

Hanyu Li

Daniel R. Meyer

Nuramirah B. Muslim

Laura Pelaez Soni

Jennifer L. Wisler

Travis D. Yuille

Summa Cum Laude (3.9-4.0)*:

Cole C. Barron

Justin C. Eastwood

Carter D. Henderson

James L. Hervey

Robert T. Leidy

Jonathan Soto Ortega

Matthew S. Tomberlin

Kyle D. Zimmermann

*Lists were based on unofficial GPA results

**Engineering Honors Program

George P. Mitchell ‘40 watches

In memory of George P. Mitchell ‘40, the department is continuing to honor him by building on the tradition he started in 1953. Each of our award winners receives a watch in keeping with the ones he donated to past award winners.

Faculty Awards of Excellence

The Faculty Awards of Excellence were established by the petroleum engineering faculty to recognize academic and research scholarship among graduates.

At the undergraduate level, this award is given to the undergraduate student who has the highest GPA upon graduation. In 2015 we had a three-way tie with each student having a GPA of 4.0: Justin Eastwood, Robert Leidy, and Matthew Tomberlin.

At the graduate level, students are nominated by their advisers and then voted on by a committee. The master’s level winner was Gibran Hashmi. The doctoral level winners were Gorgonio Fuentes-Cruz and Mehrnoosh Saneifar.

2015 Graduation

Eastwood and Hill

Saneifar and Hill

38


Albert B. Stevens Memorial Award

The Albert B. Stevens Memorial Award was established by George McGehee to help a deserving undergraduate student make the transition from student to practicing engineer. Students are nominated for this award by fellow students and faculty, and then voted on by the faculty. This year, two students received the award: Macey Bryan and Beshoy Mikhaeil.

Harold Vance Award

The Harold Vance Award is given to the student who has shown the most improvement in academic grades and who is involved in extracurricular activities. The 2015 winner was Phillip D. Clemmons, who had an overall GPA improvement of 0.8.

Mikhaeil and Hill

Robert L. Whiting Award

The Robert L. Whiting Award is given to an outstanding undergraduate student based on grades and extra-curricular activities within the university and community. Students are nominated for this award by fellow students and faculty, and then voted on by the faculty. The 2015 winner was Jennifer Wisler, who had a cumulative GPA of 3.84 and served as SPE President for 2014-2015.

Petroleum Engineering Department Award for Excellence in Teaching

The Petroleum Engineering Department Award for Excellence in Teaching recognizes full-time faculty members who maintain high expectations of their students and ensure academic rigor in their undergraduate courses. Faculty members are voted on by our seniors. The 2015 winner was Ding Zhu.

Hill and Clemmons

Wisler and Hill

Zhu and Hill

Bryan and Hill

Congratulations to all our graduates and best wishes in your careers!


Undergraduate student and roustabout statue

Graduate student and roustabout statue

Students, family and faculty congratulated award winners at Spring 2015 ceremony honoring students

Proud petroleum engineering staff and student workers volunteered at May 2015 ceremony honoring students



42

42 | TEXAS A&M ENGINEERING

engineering.tamu.edu/petroleum

U.S. News & World Report has consistently ranked Texas A&M’s Petroleum Engineering Department as one of the top Undergraduate Engineering Programs with a Ph.D. Program.

The primary goals of the program are to produce up to 200 highly-qualified U.S. and international students each year, placing these students in entry-level industry positions or graduate programs, and to maintain an ABET-accredited program in petroleum engineering.

If we are to reach these goals, we believe we must give our students the best possible preparation to enter this industry. Our curriculum gives every student a solid foundation in petroleum engineering fundamentals, but we also insist on experience in the industry. As a result, our graduates will enter the industry ready to be productive contributors, and also understand the need to continue to learn and improve their skills throughout their careers.

About Us

Documents

2014-2015 Annual Report - engineering.tamu.eduengineering.tamu.edu/media/3709382/annual-report-2014-2015.pdf · Annual Report. HAROLD VANCE ... Student Paper Contest News 32 SPE Student