Welcome from the Chair

September 2006

Alumni and Friends,

The importance of the Petroleum Engineering discipline continues to increase as access to energy becomes one the most significant challenges facing our nation. The Texas Tech University Petroleum Engineering Department is growing ever stronger. The fall 2006 enrollment is 337 undergraduates (85 Freshmen, 84 Sophomores, 74 Juniors, and 94 Seniors), 8 masters and 3 doctoral. It was exciting welcoming 115 new freshman and transfer students during the summer orientation sessions. During the 2005-2006 academic year 38 BS, 5 MS and 4 PhD degrees were granted. B.S.P.E. graduates continue to command the highest starting salaries on campus. The projected 2006-2007 graduating class includes 48 BS, 8 MS and 3 PhD degrees. May 13, 2006 surpassed last years large number of degrees granted – 28 BS, 4 MS, 3 PhD.

SPE ATC&E, San Antonio, Texas September 23 – 27, 2006. Fifty plus students will travel via bus leaving Saturday for the conference after the LSU home football game and heading back to Lubbock Tuesday after the Alumni Reception. Some of the activities you will find TTU faculty and students attending:

• Saturday, September 23, Industry Academia Dialogue 3-6 pm HBG Convention Center, Room 7
• Sunday, September 24, Department Heads Meeting 10 am HBG Convention Center, Room 216A followed by Education and Accreditation Committee Meeting 2 pm, SPE International Petroleum Engineering Faculty Meeting 3 pm, Room 206B
• Sunday, September 24, Student Welcome Breakfast Reception 8-9 am, International Student Paper contest 9 am –noon, Student Chapter Officer Workshop 12:30-1:30 pm, Student Technical Session 1:45 – 2:45 pm, Student General Session 3 – 4 pm, Student Social and Recruiting Fair 4 – 5:30 pm
• Monday, September 25 PetroBowl 9 am – 5 pm, Reception 5 – 6 pm
• Monday, September 25 Awards Banquet, our student SPE chapter is again a finalist in the Outstanding International Chapter – past record 1999 – 2006 won twice and honorable mention five times and Monday night in San Antonio???
• Tuesday, September 26 Alumni Reception 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Marriott River Center Hotel Conference, Room 9.
• Wednesday, September 27, President’s Luncheon, Dr. Heinze will receive an SPE Distinguished Member Award.

The Department was successful in hiring two qualified new faculty members: Dr. Shameem Siddiqui and Dr. Margret Ziaja. For 2006-2007 the goal is to hire three additional faculty members.

Dr. Shameem Siddiqui joined TTU Petroleum Engineering Faculty in Fall 2006. He has over 15 years of petroleum industry experience and three years of academic experience. Dr. Siddiqui holds M.S. and P.hD. degrees in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and he has a Diplôme d’Ingénieur degree in Petroleum Engineering, from the Algerian Petroleum Institute. Before joining TTU, he held the position of Science Specialist at the Saudi Aramco Research and Development Center in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia where he was also a group leader in the Petrophysics Unit. Prior to that Dr. Siddiqui taught Petroleum Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) in Golden, Colorado, where he also co-directed two of their industry-sponsored research consortia.

Dr. Margret B. Ziaja , joined our petroleum engineering faculty in Fall 2006. Prior to arriving at Tech, Malgorzata taught on the petroleum faculty at Montana Tech for ten years (1996-2006), the University of Oklahoma for three years and the University of Mining and Metallurgy, Krakow, Poland for seven years. She teaches drilling and production engineering courses.

Dr. Ziaja has more than 32 years of experience in petroleum drilling and production engineering. Her industry experience includes independent, major and international at Midgard Energy, Key Environmental Services, Marathon Oil, Diamant Boart Stratabit, and Drilling Services Company. Malgorzata’s research interests include rock/bit interaction dynamic modeling for directional and horizontal drilling, lithology identification based on the real-time drilling data, drilling process optimization and wellbore stability. A member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and the American Association of Drilling Engineers (AADE), Dr. Ziaja has authored presentations, technical papers, and textbooks. She serves as SPE Committee for Drilling Engineering Textbook Revision and Advanced Drilling Technology Book Edition, Reviewer, Journal of Energy Resources

During Fall 2005 the department was visited by ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology). The final report was from ABET was just received. Petroleum Engineering (BS) is “Accredited to September, 2012.”

An Energy Sustainability Summit was hosted by TTU, College of Engineering, September 13 & 14, 2006, at the International Cultural Center (on the TTU campus). The first session concerns Fossil-based Fuels: Fossil Fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) supply 84 percent of the U.S. energy needs (one quadrillion BTUs). The long-term outlook for fossil fuels is good. Michael L. Williams (Texas Railroad commissioner) discussed clean coal technology and the activities of the Texas FutureGen advisory board. Marshall C. Watson (PE with 25 years of oil industry experience) highlighted the new technologies and barriers applicable to oil and natural gas. The speakers joined Stephanie Sparkman (executive director, West Texas Energy Technology Initiative) and Hoxie Smith (director of Midland College’s Petroleum Professional Development Center, a registered professional geologist, and president of the Permian Basin Geophysical Society) in a panel discussion moderated by Lloyd R. Heinze (PhD, PE Butler professor and chair of Petroleum Engineering). The goal of the session is to provide a dialogue with the audience on how research and development efforts in fossil fuels will benefit West Texas, Texas, the Nation as well as globally.

Lloyd R. Heinze, Ph.D., P.E.
Chair