Annual Report 2007: FY July 1, 2006-June 30, 2007
Student Expo Committee
The function of the Student Expo Committee is to provide support for various Student Job Expos. The committee should contain members from all areas that provide Student Expos in order to share best practices. Communicate news about Student Expos to Chair of AAPG Corporate Advisory Committee.
In 2006 and early 2007, AAPG and SEG again sponsored four successful student-recruiting events across the country. The events were held in Laramie, Wyoming, Norman, Oklahoma, Houston, and Buffalo, New York. These events connected geoscience students with potential energy, environmental, and government industry employers. The students benefited by presenting their work, networking, and interviewing with multiple employers at one central location. The companies enjoyed cost-efficient recruiting from a large and diverse group of motivated and talented individuals. The events are particularly important to students who attend universities where energy companies do not actively recruit. Results from all of the job fairs continued to be positive, and we anticipate a continued demand for future young professionals to fill gaps of an aging workforce in combination with an elevated commodity price will continue to bolster hiring rate, resulting in future successful recruiting events in the coming years.
March 15-16, 2007, saw the seventh annual Spring Break Student Expo in Norman, Oklahoma, featuring the theme “Find Your Perfect Fit.” The Expo was once again held at the Sarkeys Energy Center on The University of Oklahoma campus. The School of Geology and Geophysics hosts this event, and 2007 saw the largest turnout yet. This year more than 200 students and 34 companies participated. Students were able to choose from four educational short courses: Petroleum Geology of Deepwater (Turbidite) Depositional Systems, The Potential for Big Bucks–An Independent Geologist’s Perspective, Schlumberger Geosciences–A Technology Overview, An Introduction to Seismic Interpretation or a field trip to Oklahoma’s Wichita Mountains. The poster contest again awarded cash prizes to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in both geological and geophysical categories, which drew 40 entrants. The 2007 Spring Expo also hosted the first regional SEG Challenge Bowl and also coordinated a book sale by the Department’s Geology library.
The ninth Annual AAPG/SEG Student Expo was held October 9–10, 2006, in Houston. This expo continues to be a great success and a key geoscience student-recruiting event. The event welcomed more than 150 students and 30 sponsoring companies and associations. As the Expo has exponentially increased in size over the past nine years, the event was held at the George R. Brown Convention Center and featured an icebreaker, more than 70 poster displays, two field trips, a short course, sponsor exhibits, and recruiter interviews. The drilling rig tour, led by Anadarko, and the coastal trip, led by Julia Smith-Wellner of Rice University, was back by popular demand. Modeled after the success at the Spring Expo in Norman, Schlumberger/WesternGeco led a well-attended “Technology Day” short-course, highlighting the advanced technology and science used by the industry. The Student Expo was paid entirely by the generous donation of corporate sponsors.
The fourth Student Job Quest (SJQ), in early October 2006, held in conjunction with the Eastern Section of AAPG also saw a record number of employer and student attendee participation. Twenty-three students attended from a growing number of schools extending beyond the eastern United States, with 10 of those displaying posters on their student research. SJQ is very much appreciative to all those who helped to make the Student Job Quest a success.
The University of Wyoming Department of Geology and Geophysics hosted the fifth annual Rocky Mountain Rendezvous of Geosciences Students and Employers in Fall 2006. AAPG and the Rocky Mountain Section of the AAPG sponsored the event, endorsed by several other professional geosciences organizations. Twenty-four companies participated in the rendezvous. Similar to the other job fairs, the RMS features poster presentations by the students, networking of companies and students, and field trips, short courses, and workshops. Cash prizes were awarded to the top poster presenters.
Thanks once again to the AAPG, SEG, Rice University, University of Oklahoma, University of Wyoming, our corporate sponsors, and the all committee members and volunteers who dedicate their time.
Deanna Tavernier, AAPG/SEG Student Expo
Niki Chapin, Spring Break Student Expo,
Katharine Lee Avary, Student Job Quest,
Randi Martinsen, Rocky Mountain Rendezvous
Committee members: Kathleen J.Aikin (SEG SSAL chair), Martha Lou Broussard (vice-chair), William R. Almon, Amanda Beardsley, George R. Bole, Sushanta Bose, Marc L. Buursink, Grace Castellini, Ryan Christensen, Jenny Cole (SEG staff liason), Francesca Fazzari, Kevin Hae Hae, L. Ashley Hubbard, Lizette Leon, Felipe Lozano, Robyn Marchand, Brad Michalcuk, Mike Mlynek (AAPG staff liason), Charles R. Noll, Jr., Tamalyn Peltier, Julia Smith Wellner, Beth Strickland, Deanna Tavernier (chair), Tony Williams, and Fernando Enrique Ziegler.