The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) has released a report titled, “In Pursuit of Technological Innovation,” that outlines the goals and initial analysis of the AIME Council of Excellence, established in 2014 by Behrooz Fattahi, the AIME President at the time.The report is available for free download.
The mission of the AIME Council of Excellence is to convene highly regarded technical experts representing the AIME member societies to continuously identify technologies (mature and/or leading edge) that might have innovative application in the industries served by these societies. These member societies include TMS (The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society), SME (Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration), AIST (Association for Iron and Steel Technology), and SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers). The 2003 TMS President, Dan Thoma, and 2007 TMS President, Robert Shull, are the TMS representatives to the Council of Excellence and coauthors of the report.
“The industries served by our member societies represent many different technical disciplines and use highly sophisticated technologies in their operations,” said Fattahi, who currently chairs the Council of Excellence. “These technologies have been important enablers in their continuing drive to improve how they solve problems and deliver products and services to consumers. This makes timely development and rapid application of leading-edge technologies critical for their survival and prosperity.”
Fattahi, a past president of SPE, cited examples from the petroleum industry to illustrate the cross-disciplinary application of these technologies that the Council of Excellence intends to explore. These include the use of jet engines (turbines) in the generation of steam (cogeneration) for recovery of heavy oil; utilization of satellite photos for ground subsidence monitoring; deployment of sophisticated monitoring and communication electronic devices in the operation of “smart fields”; and the use of medical computerized tomography scans to understand fluid dynamics in rock.
“The big idea of the Council of Excellence is to link more people so that each association can help and benefit from the experience of those who have solved similar problems, but in a different field,” said Fattahi. “By expanding the technology toolbox that we all have available, we will all be able to work smarter and make smarter use of the Earth’s resources.”
In addition to sharing its ideas in “In Pursuit of Technological Innovation.” the AIME Council of Excellence is inviting members of AIME member societies to submit ideas via a form available at www.aimehq.org/programs/collaborative-efforts/council-of-excellence. “Participation is essential in creating and expanding a network of innovative engineers and scientists to synergize their minds and knowledge to accelerate new technology development and identify new and innovative application of aging or cross-industry technologies,” Fattahi said.