Dr. Thomas Blasingame, holder of the Robert L. Whiting Professorship in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been elected to serve as president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) in 2021.
"I embrace engagement and I have a deep sense of wanting to make a personal connection with every person with whom I work,” said Blasingame. “My stated goal as SPE president is to engage, enable and inspire every SPE member to a higher level of technical and service performance."
SPE is the largest individual-member organization for engineers, geoscientists, researchers, practitioners, managers and other professionals within the petroleum industry. Every year, a new president is selected from a global field of prospects to lead an organization that has more than 84,000 professional members and more than 72,000 student members.
Blasingame ran for the position because he believes the SPE is an essential mechanism for communication, collaboration and innovation within the petroleum industry. He will be required to serve one year as president-elect before his term in office, one year as president, and one year as a past president after his term is complete. This substantial commitment of time will interrupt his faculty commitments, but Blasingame believes it will also be an example for his students to embrace involvement.
His habit of stepping forward and making a difference is evident throughout his years with Texas A&M. Aside from his duties in the classroom and guiding graduate students through research and degree paths, Blasingame served as assistant department head for graduate programs within the petroleum engineering department from 1997 to 2003. He also served in other academic service roles, such as the Faculty Senate, the Council for Principal Investigators and the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors. He has received several teaching and service awards from Texas A&M and the SPE in recognition of his efforts.
Blasingame has also received recognition for his technical efforts. His research deals with topics in applied reservoir engineering, reservoir modeling and production engineering. He has made numerous contributions to petroleum literature in well test analysis, analysis of production data, reservoir management, evaluation of low and ultra-low permeability reservoirs, and general reservoir engineering. He served as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer from 2005-06 and was the technical director for SPE’s Reservoir Description and Dynamics group from 2015-18.
Service to students and the engineering profession runs deep within Texas A&M graduates. Blasingame, a proud former student, is no exception. He is taking on the role of president because he wants students and young professionals to embrace the improvement of their technical and professional skills through teamwork and exposure to other professionals worldwide. He hopes to enable and promote innovation and creativity.
"It is important for me to help others because this is how I learn," said Blasingame. "I am at my most creative when there is a seemingly implausible path — not because I am clever, but because I engage with everyone I can for their input and their perspective."