Energy Resources Engineering - A New Concept In Engineering Education

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines. To meet present and future competition, many oil companies are expanding their operations in the direction of becoming totally integrated energy companies. Their activities range from exploration and development of petroleum reservoirs, tar sands and oil shales, to diversification in energy associated industries such as those producing coal or nuclear fuel. In light producing coal or nuclear fuel. In light of these developments, the public image of an "oil company" is changing from strictly a petroleum alignment to one that is concerned with the nation's overall energy requirements and uses. Petroleum engineers are well trained to exploit conventional petroleum reservoirs; however, the development of the additional sources of energy now will require engineers with a different type of training. In order to provide for these new technical manpower needs, a program has been developed at Oklahoma State University that integrates all of the energy related aspects of the various classical engineering fields into one discipline. This new concept in education, called Energy Resources Engineering, encompasses training in the production, processing, conversion, transportation, processing, conversion, transportation, storage and utilization of energy. It is the purpose of this paper to review the development of the program in Energy Resources Engineering at OSU and to present a discussion of experiences gained during its first two years of operation. Early student reaction to this course of study has been favorable. Introduction Because all mankind is involved in a dynamic technological advance the comparison of which have never been seen before, nations that have been able to exploit their natural energy resources have made tremendous strides in raising their standard of living. In the United States the rate of advance is especially high where the rising affluence coupled with greater public demand for more and better products and services is transcending rapidly its citizens into a high energy-consumming civilization. The rest of the world is following closely behind our nation in this. Since energy is required in order to do work, obviously the availability of large quantities of inexpensive energy and the efficiency of its conversion has been fundamental to increased productivity and economic progress.