The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) recently honored four members of the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University with SPE international awards during the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held 27-31 Oct. in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The international award presentations were made at the Annual Reception and Banquet, held on Tuesday evening, 28 Oct., where SPE recognizes outstanding SPE members who have made significant contributions to the industry.
“SPE international award winners were nominated by their colleagues and selected by their peers for their achievement and contributions,” said Jeff Spath, 2014 SPE President.
Hill and Spath
Dr. Alfred Daniel Hill was presented with the SPE John Franklin Carll Award. This award recognizes distinguished contribution in the application of engineering principles to petroleum development and recovery. Hill is the Head of the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M. He is also a professor and holder of the Noble Endowed Chair. His technical applications and professionalism in petroleum development and recovery are widely recognized. Hill has worked to advance the petroleum engineering profession worldwide, most significantly by actively sharing his research through his extensive SPE service and committee work, and through his teaching and training of petroleum engineers and students.
Blasingame and Spath
Dr. Thomas A. Blasingame received the SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty. This award recognizes superiority in classroom teaching, excellence in research, significant contributions to the petroleum engineering profession and/or special effectiveness in advising and guiding students. Blasingame, a professor and holder of the Robert L. Whiting Endowed Professorship, is extremely passionate about education. His focus on petrophysics, reservoir engineering, analysis/interpretation of well performance, and technical mathematics have been extremely effective in shaping the education of petroleum engineers and students throughout the world. Blasingame believes that service is one of the most important components of a professional’s credentials, and he has demonstrated this through his countless contributions to SPE as well as his dedicated service to his students both inside and outside of the classroom.
Dr. David S. Schechter and Mr. David B. Burnett were awarded a SPE Distinguished Membership. Established in 1983, the Distinguished Member award recognizes SPE members who achieve distinction deemed worthy of special recognition. This award acknowledges members who have attained eminence in the petroleum industry or the academic community, or who have made significant contributions to SPE. Distinguished Membership is restricted to not more than 1% of SPE membership, and is equivalent to Fellow status in other professional societies.
Schechter and Spath
Schechter, an associate professor and the Aghorn Energy Career Development Professor, has become a leading expert in naturally fractured reservoirs, which includes extensive work on unconventional liquid reservoirs, and enhanced oil recovery using CO2 and unconventional liquid reservoirs. Schechter’s research in the area of enhanced oil recovery in unconventional liquid reservoirs is cutting edge research, which cannot be found at any other university.
Burnett and Spath
Burnett is the Director of Technology of the Global Petroleum Research Institute at Texas A&M University. He has been an active and exemplary member of SPE since 1971, and has had a career that exemplifies excellence in research, and service. As a part of the department of petroleum engineering, Burnett was instrumental in the development of the concept of environmental stewardship in drilling and production operations through the Environmentally Friendly Drilling Program.
SPE serves more than 124,000 members worldwide, sharing technical knowledge for the benefit of our industry. Each year, SPE presents awards that recognize members whose efforts have advanced petroleum technology, as well as their professional achievements and contributions to the industry and the society.