ASME-IPTI Collegiate Council honored for promoting petroleum engineering careers

The ASME International Petroleum Technology Institute's Petroleum Division Collegiate Council was named "Industry Champion" at the second annual Offshore Energy Achievement Awards (OEAA) ceremony, held last month in Houston.

The Industry Champion award was among nine awards presented by industry leaders to recognize exceptional achievement in technical and operational categories related to offshore energy.

The ASME-IPTI Collegiate Council rose to the top of their category, outscoring entries from industry giants Halliburton (of Houston) and FMC Technologies/Texas A&M University, through their efforts to promote the petroleum industry as a career.

Attending the OEAA ceremony in Houston were Dena Demboski, member of the Petroleum Division Collegiate Council and a senior at Texas A&M University, and Keith Ogdee, ITPI’s New Professional Intern and Collegiate Council alumni.

As stated in the award description, in light of the "graying of the industry," champions in both academia and the industry play an increasingly important role in creating ways to recruit and train new employees. Efforts to mentor and develop the image of the petroleum industry with communities, parents, prospective employees and students were considered as criteria for the Industry Champion category.

In a summary submitted to the 11-member OEAA selection committee, the Collegiate Council indicated that the average age of a mechanical engineer in the petroleum industry is 54 years. That, according to the council, indicates "the industry faces the serious issue of attracting the young engineer to whom decades of intellectual property and company know-how can be passed."

In 2002, ASME answered the call of the industry by forming an international collegiate council for the purpose of attracting students to a mechanical engineering curriculum focused on the oil and gas industry, and to determine how ASME can assist those students in their career path.

The ASME-IPTI Collegiate Council, comprised of 10 to 12 students from universities in the United States and Mexico, meets with students on campus to introduce them to career opportunities in the petroleum industry.

In the three years since the council was formed, the students have developed a Web site that allows individuals with no industry experience to educate themselves on the basics of the oil and gas industry. The council members and its alumni have presented petroleum industry career opportunities to more than 3,700 students.

This year, 29 OEAA finalists, including ASME, were selected from a pool of more than 100 nominations. In addition to Industry Champion, other categories included Health, Safety and Environmental, Project of the Year, Emerging Innovation/Technology, Well Construction, Production/Facilities, Geoscience, and Contributions to Community.

The OEAA selection committee included industry executives from Chevron, BP, the American Bureau of Shipping/Americas, Anadarko Petroleum, Shell Technology Ventures, ATP Oil and Gas, and others.

For more information about the ASME-IPTI Petroleum Division Collegiate Council, visit www.asme-ipti.org/public/pagcollegiatecouncil.aspx.

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