[Editor's Note: Pierguiseppe Fiore is a member of the TWA Editorial Board and is the author of previous TWA articles.]
In this Q&A, former TWA editor in chief, Andreas Michael, SPE, reflects on the lessons that shaped his work as an editor, educator, and petroleum engineer. He discusses why quality should take precedence over quantity, why technical depth still matters, and how TWA can help young professionals build the expertise needed to navigate an evolving industry.
Michael is an assistant professor of petroleum engineering at the University of North Dakota (UND). He previously was a postdoctoral research fellow at Colorado School of Mines. His PhD dissertation titled, “Fluid-Driven Fracture Initiation from Oil and Gas Wells Considering Lifetime Stresses” received Louisiana State University (LSU)’s Distinguished Dissertation of the Year Award for STEM in 2020.
Michael has authored 23 peer-reviewed journal articles (eight first-authored, five single-authored), 43 conference papers (22 referred), and 18 magazine articles. He served as the 2020–2021 editor in chief of TWA. In 2019, he captained LSU's SPE PetroBowl Championship-winning team and placed second in the SPE International Student Paper Contest.
Throughout his career, he has combined academic research and teaching with editorial leadership and service to the petroleum engineering community. His professional path reflects a sustained commitment to technical excellence, knowledge sharing, and the development of students and young professionals.
Michael holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The University of Texas at Austin and a doctorate from LSU, all in petroleum engineering.
In the interview that follows, Michael reflects on his career, his experience with TWA, and the evolving relationship between academia, research, and industry.
Piergiuseppe Fiore (PF): Looking back at your time with TWA, what are some of the key lessons you learned as an editor and volunteer that have stayed with you, both professionally and personally?
Andreas Michael (AM): I remember my time volunteering with TWA (2018–2022) as the best “job” I ever had. While TWA provides young professionals (YPs) with a unique opportunity for expression and exposure to the global oil and gas community through article publications, it also directly helps enhance its content creators’ writing proficiency (along with improvements in peripheral communication, team-building, and leadership skills).
The biggest lesson learned for me was the importance of prioritizing “quality” over “quantity.” At no time in history did these two see a battle that saw the latter prevail over the former. A writeup can never be considered “perfect”—no matter how much editing you do, there is always room for progress, therefore the more time and effort you spend in improving a draft, the better it becomes. This is something that these days I try to pass along to the students in my classes at UND when it comes to their term paper writing, or the graduate students in my research group when it comes to their scientific publications. Quality always matters.
PF: During your time with TWA, you often explored topics related to the future of the energy industry, technological developments, and the energy transition. Today, as your career has increasingly involved academia and research, has your perspective on these topics changed? And how do you think TWA can continue to bridge the gap between technical knowledge, research, and the evolving needs of YPs?
AM: I articulated extensively on the future of the petroleum engineering discipline through my role in TWA, besides presenting at several SPE conferences like ATCE. Sadly, I feel that nowadays both the petroleum engineering discipline and SPE have been “forcibly” stretched too far beyond the relevant problems in the exploration and production (E&P) for subsurface hydrocarbon deposits and this inadvertently leads to dilutions of domain expertise. This erodes any competitive advantages that petroleum engineering graduates naturally hold over non-petroleum engineering degree holders when it comes to relevant E&P job positions, which is very disappointing.
That being said, graduate placement—and survival within the industry—remains persistently the elephant in the room (regardless of the oil and gas prices) for SPE YPs, many of those having received their education in foreign countries where they end up pursuing employment. Ironically, the first ever TWA article back in 2005 was titled, “What Is This All About?” and its first sentence was, “It is all about survival.” I believe that from these perennial themes, a lot of novel content can be generated, which will ultimately be proven classic.
PF: Since your time with TWA, you have continued your involvement in academia, research, and the broader energy community. How have you continued to create an impact through SPE and volunteering, and has your experience with TWA influenced the way you approach your work today?
AM: There are numerous ways that a senior member can contribute to SPE, post-TWA. Some of those ways would depend on the individual member’s employment at the time. I am very proud to be serving as the faculty advisor for SPE’s UND Student Chapter, trying my best to promote student-oriented involvement with the parent organization, such as participation in the Student Paper Contest and volunteering for TWA.
In the same vein, I try to apply the same quality-over-quantity mindset in my work. Young faculty can be easily tempted by the vice versa. An Ancient Greek saying which I like translates to “there is no good in much, but there is much in good.” I am also skeptical of modern-day trends that push people (especially YPs and early-career individuals) toward inter-disciplinarisms because I feel that they breed mediocrity. Petroleum engineering is composed of something like 16 subdisciplines and the real value is found in intra-disciplinarism; completeness on all fronts. Proper multi-disciplinarism is achievable if done the right way but can never be fast-tracked.
PF: What advice would you give to the next generation of TWA volunteers, particularly those taking on leadership roles? Looking back at your own experience, what would you encourage them to prioritize when shaping the future of the publication?
AM: I would advise them to see these roles as an opportunity rather than a responsibility. Focus on matters of actual substance, do not spread yourselves too thin, and always put quality above quantity. What ends up on the TWA website is the bottom line and this is where all the focus should be. And always remember that we are supposed to serve the petroleum engineering discipline and not the vice versa (this is true for all SPE members).
Domain expertise is necessary for someone to become good at their job. Hollow “energy” generalizations can be quite myopic and may be proven very limiting. Even worse are narratives propagated on “energy engineering,” which falls into a general mold that cannot be fundamentally defined. I think history will have a great deal of trouble remembering a famous “energy engineer,” while there are numerous petroleum engineering heroes whose names will never be forgotten.
