STUDENT NEWS

Dean’s Advisory Council

The Dean’s Advisory Council was initiated by Dean Larry R. Grillot in the fall of 2007 and meets the first Wednesday of every month during the academic year. The purpose of this group is to bring the college undergraduate and graduate student leaders from both schools together to meet with the Dean to discuss key college issues. These student leaders are presidents of the college-related student organizations or serve in other leadership capacities. When issues are discussed, the students are able to report the information to their respective memberships, which helps keep the entire Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy student body informed.

 
The purpose of the Dean’s Advisory Council is to:
  Provide a forum for issues of concern to students to be communicated to the Dean
  Provide a forum for the Dean to keep students informed of college activities/issues
  Provide leadership to establish programs to enrich the college experience for students
  Other student support activities as appropriate

This year’s Dean’s Council Advisory student members are:

Mark Aisenberg- Treasurer, SEG-CPGG
Chris Althoff – Pick & Hammer – CPGG
Steven Madrid Arroyo – MPGE NG MS Student
Mark Ballard – President, SPE – MPGE
Paul Bowen- Pick & Hammer – CPGG
Rika Burr – President, AWG – CPGG
Nick Goree – President, AADE – MPGE
Sagar Kale – MPGE MS Student
Victor Pena- President, SEG – CPGG
Hemant Phale – MPGE Ph.D. Student
Carlos Santacruz- President, AAPG – CPGG
Alisan Templet – Treasurer, AWG-CPGG
Andrew Thiel – Pick & Hammer – CPGG
Sarah Harris – President, Pi Epsilon Tau – MPGE
Left to Right: Mark Ballard, Sarah Harris,  Hemant Phale, Sagar Kale, Larry R. Grillot, Chris Althoff, Alisan Templet, Nick Goree, Andrew Thiel
Not Pictured: Mark Aisenberg, Paul Bowen, Rikka Burr, Stephen Madrid, Victor Pena, Carlos Santacruz


OU Students and Faculty Win Prestigious SPE Awards

A University of Oklahoma student team has made history by winning the national PetroBowl and becoming the first university to win two years in a row by beating the University of Texas in the final round.

The PetroBowl tests teams on their knowledge ranging from the fundamentals of petroleum engineering to the history and current events of the oil and gas industry. The competition took place at the International Society of Petroleum Engineers Technical Conference and Exhibition held this week in Denver.

OU students Phillip Brauer, Sarah Kassis, Devon Koetter-Manson, Charles Meyer and Chinenye Excel Ogugbue were awarded the silver trophy and a $500 scholarship each from EnCana, a natural gas and oil company headquartered in Alberta, Canada. OU alumnus Curtis Mewbourne of Mewbourne Oil Co. has pledged to match each scholarship. Carl Sondergeld, associate dean of the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy and Mewbourne Professor in the Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering, is the faculty sponsor and coach of the Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering SPE student team.

The PetroBowl, sponsored by the Society of Petroleum Engineers Gulf Coast Section Young Professionals Program, EnCana and PetroSkills, matches four-person teams of students from around the world in competition.

Also during the conference, OU students Guillermo Michel Villazon and Ashraf Al Tahini were presented with the SPE Young Professional’s Paper Award.

In addition, two members of the Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering faculty were honored with awards. Dean Oliver, Mewbourne Chair Professor of Petroleum Engineering, was named the 2008 SPE Distinguished Member, and Assistant Professor I. Yucel Akkutlu was recognized as the 2008 Outstanding Associate Editor.

L to R: Charles Meyer, Phillip Brauer, Sarah Kassis, Chinenye Excel Ogugbue
L to R: Chinenye Excel Ogugbue, Phillip Brauer, Sarah Kassis, Charles Meyer, Devon Koetter-Manson


OU Students Place in SPE 2008 Student Paper Contest

Sarah Kassis, Saken Konurbayev and Pablo Limpias from MPGE competed in the SPE Mid-Continent/Rocky Mountain/Eastern Regional student paper contest held at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, SD on 14-15 October.

There were 16 contestants entered from the University of Calgary, Pennsylvania State, Colorado School of Mines, etc. Sarah Kassis won second place and Pablo Limpias placed third. Sarah delivered a talk titled “Fracture Permeability in the Barnett Shale: Effects of Roughness, Fracture Offset, Proppant, and Effective Stress” Pablo delivered a talk titled “Petrophysical Characterization of the Bossier Tight Sand Formation” Both these presentations were based on original research work.

CPGG Pick and Hammer Student Organization Silent Auction at Alumni Awards Dinner

The Pick and Hammer Club held a silent auction to raise funds at the MCEE Distinguished Alumni and Service Awards Dinner held November 21, 2008 at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center. Items for auction included: trilobite fossils, fish fossils, prehnite, kyanite, celestite geodes, iron meteorites, pyrite, and others. In total, there were 34 items in the auction and all sold.  The club will use this money for field trips and club events. Pick and Hammer members managed the auction tables and were assisted by CPGG staff, Nancy Leonard and Adrianne Fox.
Alumni peruse items offered for auction at the MCEE Distinguished Alumni and Service Awards Dinner, November 21, 2008. Photo courtesy of Robert Taylor


MCEE Dean Larry Grillot, Emad A. Alabbad, OU President David L. Boren, OU Parent’s Association member, Mary Martha Stewart
MCEE 2008 OUTSTANDING SENIOR AWARD

Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering student, Emad A. Alabbad, was named Outstanding Senior 2008 for the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy October 31, 2008 in a ceremony which took place in the Oklahoma Memorial Union Beaird Lounge. Emad’s honors and activities include: MPGE Outstanding Junior, Recipient of the Saudi Aramco Full Scholarship, Saudi Student Association President, International Advisory Committee Member. Emad is the son of Abbad and Najat Alshakis Alabbad of Dharhran, Saudi Arabia. Dean Grillot presented Emad with a certificate and a check in the amount of $500.00 at the MCEE Fall Board of Visitors meeting November 21, 2008. CONGRATULATIONS EMAD!