Spring Expo Draws Large Participation

Future Student Expos

A record participation by both students and companies was recorded at the fifth annual AAPG-SEG Spring Student Expo, held at the University of Oklahoma in March.

A total of 166 students from 42 colleges and universities in 22 states were able to meet, greet and even talk some geology with representatives from 24 companies.

Mike Mlynek, AAPG student activities coordinator, said the Expo brought energy-oriented geology and geophysics students from around the country together with energy companies in both formal interview and informal venues. Companies were looking for graduates and undergraduates for internships and graduates for full-time employment.

There were ample opportunities for the students and companies to get to know each other. An Icebreaker, luncheon, two short courses, a field trip and campus tours also were part of the program.

Fourteen companies began interviews on a Saturday morning, recording 194 formal meetings.

Some of the students took the opportunity to present posters, with 41 presentations dealing with geology and 27 geophysics. Geology poster winners were Kathleen Baker, of the Colorado School of Mines; Nicholas Terech, University of Buffalo (N.Y.); and Sophia Rodriguez, University of Tulsa. Geophysics poster winners were Aaron Rothfolk and Tomieka Searcy, both of the University of Oklahoma; and Upendra Kumar Tiwari, the University of Texas at Dallas.

There were several levels of Expo sponsorship:

• Major Sponsors were Chesapeake Energy and Pioneer Natural Resources.
• Platinum Sponsors were ChevronTexaco, Chuck Noll, ConocoPhillips, Devon Energy, Dominion Exploration and Production, Kerr-McGee, Potts Exploration, Samson, and Vintage Petroleum.
• Gold Sponsors were Core Laboratories, Crawley Petroleum, EOG Resources, geoPLUS, MAP Exploration, Mewbourne Oil, Minerals Management Services, Oklahoma Geological Survey/South Mid-Continent Region PTTC, Omnilabs, Panhandle Royalty, Questar, Schlumberger, Shell Oil, and Wagner and Brown.
• Silver Sponsors were Robert Allen, Dave Campbell, Indian Exploration, McKenny Energy and Jon Withrow.