STUDENT NEWS

COLLEGE CREATES NEW BROCHURE

The Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy continues its efforts to create quality publications and methods of communication to represent the new college to prospective students, alumni and friends. Earlier this year we launched our annual magazine, Earth & Energy, and our electronic newsletter, MCEE-Newsletter. This summer we are proud to unveil a new college brochure.

The brochure is a quad-fold document which highlights the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy, ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics, Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering, Sarkeys Energy Center and Oklahoma Geological Survey. It provides important information, such as degree programs and contact information, as well as emphasizes the many programs and opportunities each college entity has to offer.

Some of the verbiage in the brochure is below:


MEWBOURNE COLLEGE OF EARTH AND ENERGY
The Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy was created on Jan. 1, 2006, and consists of the Mewbourne School of Petroleum & Geological Engineering, the ConocoPhillips School of Geology & Geophysics, and the Oklahoma Geological Survey, all located within the Sarkeys Energy Center. The creation of the college is a progressive move by the university, signaling its ongoing commitment to energy education and research.

Building on a rich history and a tradition of excellence, the Mewbourne College of Earth & Energy maintains its historical focus on oil and gas, with continued emphasis on the fundamental understanding of the earth on which we live. The educational experiences for the students are the priority to the university, college and schools as well as the alumni and industry and are reflected in the generous number of scholarships and fellowships awarded to students each year.

More than 30 distinguished faculty, nearly 600 exceptional students, state-of-the-art research laboratories and a focus on collaborative, multidisciplinary research make the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy a center of excellence that endeavors to understand the complex issues relating to energy, industry and our environment that effect our nation and our world.

CONOCOPHILLIPS SCHOOL OF GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS
Geologists and geophysicists investigate the processes that shape the Earth; analyze Earth history; predict future geologic events; search for new sources of energy, water and other natural resources; and endeavor to protect the quality of Earth's environment. Geology focuses on the structure and interactions of the Earth's minerals and rocks, while geophysics applies mathematics, physics and modeling to study the interior and electromagnetic and gravitational fields of the Earth.

Students have many opportunities for hands-on experiences in the laboratory and through field trips and fieldwork as well as summer internships. Many baccalaureate graduates continue their education to earn master of science and doctoral degrees in either geology or geophysics. Students graduating with an advanced degree enjoy a 98 percent job placement rate. Graduates of the ConocoPhillips School of Geology & Geophysics are highly recruited by oil, gas, mining, environmental and water resources industries as well as many government agencies.

Founded in 1900, the ConocoPhillips School of Geology & Geophysics holds the distinct title of being the first school in the United States to offer a degree in petroleum geology and has graduated nearly 7,000 students. Students in the school are involved in a variety of professional societies with local chapters, including the student chapter of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Recently, five students won first place in the annual AAPG Imperial Barrel Award program.

MEWBOURNE SCHOOL OF PETROLEUM AND GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
Petroleum is synonymous with energy. Over 70 percent of the energy used in the United States originates from oil and natural gas. Petroleum engineering is a multifaceted discipline that is directed toward capitalizing on natural resources contained in a geological habitat. Petroleum engineers may work on specific production-related challenges in a technical area or may work to solve broad technical challenges within an organization.

Students excel due to state-of-the-art laboratories, top-paying summer internships, substantial scholarship support and both domestic and international opportunities. There has been a 100 percent job placement rate for Mewbourne School of Petroleum & Geological Engineering graduates seeking employment during peak and slow trends in the oil and gas industry.

The Mewbourne School of Petroleum & Geological Engineering awarded its first degree in geological engineering in 1919 and its first petroleum engineering degree in 1927. The school is consistently ranked among the top five academic programs in the country by U.S. News and World Report. To date, this distinguished program has graduated over 900 geological engineers and more than 5,000 petroleum engineers, including multiple past presidents of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Today's students continue the tradition of excellence as the student chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers recently won the PetroBowl Championship at the International Society of Petroleum Engineers Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition.

OKLAHOMA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
The Oklahoma Geological Survey was chartered in the Oklahoma Constitution in 1907 and was signed into law on May 29, 1908. It is the only geological survey written into the constitution of a new state. OGS is charged with investigating the state's land, water, mineral and energy resources and disseminating the results of those investigations to promote the wise use of Oklahoma's natural resources consistent with sound environmental practices.

The Oklahoma Geological Survey is a state agency for research and public service located on the OU Norman campus and is a unit of the OU Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy. The survey also has a 200,000-square-foot warehouse facility located off-campus, the Oklahoma Petroleum Information Center, dedicated to the preservation of cores, samples, logs and completion reports that date back to pre-statehood.

Programs and projects of the OGS include Earth science education, earthquake monitoring, data preservation, fossil fuel-related research, geologic mapping, industrial minerals research, workshops on a variety of geosciences topics, geologic hazards studies and projects in cooperation with state and federal agencies.

SARKEYS ENERGY CENTER
Sarkeys Energy Center, a 300,000-square-foot facility located on the OU Norman campus, houses the Mewbourne College of Earth & Energy. The center fosters premier, interdisciplinary energy research and education through various means of technology transfer and enhances regional economic growth and national energy and economic security.

The Sarkeys Energy Center includes the ConocoPhillips School of Geology & Geophysics, the Mewbourne School of Petroleum & Geological Engineering, and the Oklahoma Geological Survey, all of which focus on the energy-related strengths of the university, develop technology and programs that advance the energy industry in the state and throughout the world and provide significant, "real world" research and education opportunities for students.

DEGREE PROGRAMS
CONOCOPHILLIPS SCHOOL OF GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS
  • Bachelor of Science- Geology
    • General Geology Option
    • Environmental Geology Option
    • Petroleum Geology Option
    • Paleontology Option
  • Bachelor of Science- Geophysics
    • General Geophysics Option
    • Exploration Geophysics Option
  • Master of Science- Geology
  • Master of Science- Geophysics
  • Ph.D.- Geology
  • Ph.D.- Geophysics


MEWBOURNE SCHOOL OF PETROLEUM AND GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
  • Bachelor of Science- Petroleum Engineering
  • Master of Science- Petroleum Engineering
  • Master of Science- Geological Engineering
  • Master of Science- Natural Gas Engineering and Management
  • Ph.D.- Petroleum Engineering
  • Ph.D.- Geological Engineering


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OU PROFESSOR AND STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN SEISMIC EXPERIMENT

NORMAN – On September 7th, an army of almost six-dozen scientists, students, and volunteers placed 2700 short-period seismometers across the High Lava Plains (HLP) of southeastern Oregon, making it the largest, controlled-source seismic experiment ever undertaken on land. This army included 42 students from 12 different universities, mainly the University of Oklahoma, Oregon State, Arizona State, MIT, Stanford, Miami-Ohio, University of Texas at Dallas, and Rhode Island. Students from the University of Oklahoma were Catherine Cox, Maxwell Okure, Jefferson Chang, Matt Hamilton, Olubunmi Elebiju, Christine Worthington, and Jonathan Green.  Over the night of September 8th, the seismometers recorded the seismic signals from 15 one-ton borehole explosions that were deeply buried and thus "controlled" physically in time and location on. This deployment, under the guidance of Randy Keller (University of Oklahoma), also took advantage of 100 broadband seismometers in an existing array placed during the past three years by David James (Carnegie Institution) and Matthew Fouch (Arizona State University) and coworkers. The permitting, drilling, and provision of seismic sources were directed by Steve Harder (University of Texas at El Paso). The project included a piggyback effort led by Simon Klemperer (Stanford University) that created a dense and partly 3-component profile across the geologically anomalous Steens Mountain area. The University of Oregon, Michigan Tech, and the U. S. Geological Survey were also "listening" with an array deployed in the Newberry volcano area. Together, these efforts will provide a deep and three-dimensional image of the structure of this region.

The seismometers were located to provide high-resolution images of the mantle and crust directly beneath the path of volcanism that have dotted the High Lava Plains during the past 16 million years. In addition to the seismic component, the overarching project, funded by the National Science Foundation’s Continental Dynamics program, includes a cadre of Earth scientists interested in resolving the origin of a sudden massive outpouring of basalt volcanism 16 million years ago and a puzzling trend of age-progressive rhyolite domes that reaches west toward Newberry volcano, the youngest complex in the trend.

The project began in 2005 and extends into 2010, seeks to establish a better understanding of why the Pacific Northwest, specifically eastern Oregon’s High Lava Plains, is so volcanically active. This region, chosen for study because of its accessibility, its high volcanic flux (this the most volcanically active area of the continental United States), and its relatively young age, provides the team with an interesting and challenging problem. None of the accepted paradigms about crustal formation and magmatism fit eastern Oregon. By applying numerous techniques ranging from geochemistry and petrology to active and passive seismic imaging to geodynamic modeling, the group will be able to examine an assemblage of new data that they hope will give them key information about the roles of lithosphere structure, tectonics, flat-slab subduction, slab roll-back, and plumes as instigators of aerially extensive magmatism continuing from plate margins into the interior of the continent.

CPGG graduate student, Maxwell Okure, watches drilling