STUDENT CHAPTER & IBA - coordinated by David Contreras
1st International Geosciences Student Conference - Bucharest, Romania
Andrei Panaiotu, Diana Ciobanete, Emilia Ranete
Bucharest Student Chapter
First day of registrationEvery year conferences are organized in every corner of the world. It is at these conferences that scientists from academia and industry find the best environment to display their efforts and to work together for future developments. Through the conferences, the world of geosciences has managed to stay united and to work as a team toward a sustainable development that we see today. The results are shown in research, the evolution of the petroleum and near-surface engineering industries and university developments.
As in nature, human life and social evolution happens in stages. In each stage, the evolution reaches a critical point, after which a step to the next stage is required. When the research and industry started constantly advancing in all domains, the next step involved approaching the future to secure an accelerated development. This future is held by students who will soon be leading the world of geosciences. With that in mind, giving opportunities to the students to take leadership roles was the first step in a new piece of the evolution. By giving students the same respect as professionals, they realized that in the near future they would be leading the academic and industry developments. The 1st International Geosciences Student Conference in Bucharest, Romania is the most recent and also the most exciting result of these actions so far, because students arranged the conference and presented papers in a professional fashion, just like any other professional society conference.
Opening GalaThe conference was the brainchild of students who were given the opportunity to see what leadership in geosciences can lead to via grants and mentoring from EAGE, SEG, AAPG and companies from industry. Even though geology tried to throw a wrench into the plans, in the form of volcanic ash, things came together for a great conference. It was obvious how much work the students and other people involved had put in once everything got rolling. Students from over a dozen countries (Romania, Moldavia, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, Italy, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Canada, USA, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia) participated in the exhibition, job fair and technical presentations, making for a very professional event. The number of participants in the 1st IGSC was of 388 people, 243 of which were students. From an experienced student’s perspective, there was a lot of pride felt about what can be accomplished with some motivation, a little assistance from industry and professional societies, and of course lots of hard work from the organizing student societies. The quality of the 1st IGSC was above and beyond what many expected due to the nature and variety of students, companies and individuals involved as well as the technical perspective expressed in the presentations.
AAPG booth: Herman Darman, Anwar Al-Beaiji and IGSC Organizing StaffThe student activities were a highlight of the conference. First the opening gala gave students the chance to meet and greet on a social and professional level, both connecting peers and bringing together new friends. During the three days, several different programs have taken place in parallel. Firstly, there were the International and National Symposiums with 85 oral presentations completed by the Poster Session (24 participants) displayed in the exhibition hall. In the same area, trial or real interviews were held by several companies, whom also provided the participants with presentations of their activity and future plans. Another noteworthy episode was the IBA introductory course held by Herman Darman, Anwar Al-Beaiji and Ievgen Ustenko. Also the Distinguished Lecturer short courses from AAPG, SEG and EAGE were an attraction for students. On the last day the SEG European Regional Challenge Bowl took place, where eight teams from seven universities spanning six countries competed for a chance to travel to the SEG Annual Meeting in Denver this coming autumn. The closing ceremony included keynote speakers Herman Darman from Shell Netherlands representing AAPG, Candice Chinsethagid representing SEG and Shannon de Groot representing EAGE to give motivational closing remarks as well as encouraging commendations for all the students who put in so much effort for this conference.
Field trip's first stopFinally, at the closing gala, everyone was able to let loose and celebrate the success of the conference, having fun with all of their new friends and colleagues that they plan to collaborate with again in the future. After the final gala, 50 students from all countries have taken part in the field trip to Buzau County, which included: turbidites, salt structures and ended with a trip to the mud volcanoes.