SPE Penn State

Back-to-Back Outstanding Student Chapter Awards: SPE Penn State named 2017 Outstanding Student Chapter

We did it again. 

The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Penn State was named the 2017 Outstanding Student Chapter.  As previously alluded to, we also won this award in 2016, and we are very honored and humbled to bring this award back to Penn State for a second year in a row.  Over the past few years, our Executive Board has set out to breed a culture of excellence—yet again we’ve proved that Penn State is a force to be reckoned with.  SPE Penn State is a model Chapter to be followed—by other universities and chapters across the state, country, continent, and globe.

Just like the Pittsburgh Penguins winning Stanley Cups back-to-back, we’ve also accomplished a rare feat, hoisting two Outstanding Student Chapter accolades consecutively. Between 2016 and 2017, the last Outstanding award won by Penn State was back in 1991.

This award is the highest honor for a chapter, recognizing those that are exemplary in the categories of industry engagement, operations and planning, community involvement, professional development, and innovation. The award will be presented to SPE Penn State during the Student Awards Luncheon at the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) in San Antonio, TX on October 9-11, 2017.

When our executive board took the reigns over a year ago our goal was to continue the momentum we had from winning 2016’s Outstanding Student award. A general consensus from our members and faculty is that we want to further bolster Penn State’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering program.  This award confirms our continuous efforts.

To start the year: our officers shared a quote by Dr. Nathan Meehan (SPE International 2016 President) stating that how you act when times are good doesn’t define character; your character is defined by your actions when times are tough. Our members stuck to this notion throughout the year, and that’s a big reason why our Chapter has been so successful.  One example of this is the startup of a new partnership with ShaleNET’s Roustabout Training Program.

Our members and faculty have worked so hard this past year. They deserve this.  Now the Executive Board is going to start focusing on 2018.  We remain steadfast at enhancing our members’ experiences within the oil and gas industry.

SPE Penn State has prospered through new initiatives such as Positive Energy community service, mentoring programs, ambassadorship programs, engaging technical conferences, innovative webinars, and much more.  Again, we thank our members for their ongoing involvement, and we hope you will decide to join this new era of SPE Penn State.

This is another notch to mark on our belt.

I’m proud to be a Penn Stater.  We Are…

Sincerely,