Students/Education

Today, the buzzword in drilling is about drilling a well autonomously. This focus led the SPE Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section (DSATS) to establish the Drillbotics Competition 3 years ago. Last year, seven universities participated in the competition for the opportunity to design and deploy a rig that must drill hands-free.

SPE conducted the 2017 International Student Paper Contests (SPC) during the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) held in San Antonio, Texas, in October. The technical paper contests are conducted under the Undergraduate, Master’s, and PhD categories, with each category having three winners. This year’s winners are:

As laptops become smaller and more ubiquitous, the old-fashioned way of taking notes by hand still has advantages.

The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) SPE student chapter won the 2017 PetroBowl championship, defeating the University of Benin team. UNAM was also the winner of the championship in 2015. The University of Oklahoma team came in third.

Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU) SPE Fest 2017 is the university’s third International Oil and Gas Technical Festival under the maxim of “Irradiating Brilliance” and will be held 3–5 November. It is planned to be a platform for the coming generation of petroleum engineers to explore new horizons in the fields of oil and gas.

The IX International Youth Scientific and Practical Congress "Oil and Gas Horizons" will be held from 28 to 30 November at the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas in Moscow. It is organized by the Gubkin University SPE student chapter and the official language of the event is English. Abstract submissions are accepted until 1 September.

Texas A&M University wins this year's Drillbotics contest.

On 23 June, the SPE Student Chapter of the Federal University of Ceara, Brazil, celebrated International Women in Engineering Day, which was attended by the directors of the university's technology center, professors, professionals, and students. The main objective of the event was to focus attention on the opportunities for women in engineering and to encourage girls…

Himchand Persad is a second year petroleum engineering honors student at the University of Texas at Austin. He is an international student from the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago, and is actively involved in a number of energy and community outreach ventures.

For technical innovation and skill progression for individuals and institutions, continual learning and exposure to new ideas is vital.