Senior Projects, Crawfish Boil, and Craft & Hawkins Teaching Award Presented

The Craft & Hawkins Dept of Petroleum Engineering hosted the Spring Industry Advisory Committee meeting on Friday, April 12.  Numerous activities surround this meeting, and the combination of very active IAC members, student participation, and the engagement from the faculty and staff assist in making this event such a success.  Our IAC is comprised of executives, managers, and recruiters from both large and independent oil companies, and their support lends strongly to the success of the department as the industry ebbs and flows.

After the business meeting in the morning, select students join IAC members for lunch to discuss the dept, industry, the curriculum, and LSU as a whole.  Generally, there are 4 separate lunch groups and rooms; however, this spring we hosted 5 rooms.  Students are encouraged to speak freely on topics and voice their opinions.  The networking for them involved is twofold, and involves relationships made with peer groups in the lunch, as well as industry members who attend.

By mid-afternoon, the meeting wraps up, and a combination of the IAC and industry volunteers divide into conference rooms for the Capstone Design senior project presentations.  The members of industry judge the projects and provide valuable feedback needed for the seniors to finish their reports, which are evaluated for their final grade in the course.

After the last presentation is presented, the IAC, their guests, retired faculty and staff, their spouses, our current faculty, staff, their spouses, and all students retreat to the Petroleum Engineering Research and Technology Transfer Lab (PERTT Lab) just off campus to enjoy the crawfish boil.  This year, the boil was sponsored by our SPE LSU section, Oxy, Chevron, and Schlumberger.  Duhe's Cajun & Creole Cravin's always treats us right, catering 1300 pounds of crawfish, along with salad, corn, white beans, jambalaya, and cold drinks.

As the students enjoy the fresh, hot meal, the Craft & Hawkins Teaching Award is presented by a member of the Boothby family, who sponsors the award.  The award, voted on by the graduating senior class, designates the full-time teacher in petroleum engineering who, in their opinion, is the best teacher/instructor during their undergraduate years of study. This is an indication of excellence in instruction, as characterized by faculty members who inspire interest in the subject, communicate engineering principles clearly and simply, promote creativity and innovation in petroleum engineering, and instill an appreciation for ethical and responsible practice.

This year, Ken Boothby presented the award to Dr. Mauricio Almeida.  Dr. Almeida's wife attended the boil with him, and she was very proud.  Also present was Dr. Adam T. Bourgoyne, Jr., who retired from the dept in 1999 and was Dr. Almeida's faculty advisor throughout his PhD program in the mid-1980s.  The students were all very happy for Dr. Almeida, and everyone enjoyed the LSU academic lineage that this year's recipient provided. Pictured to the left are Ken Boothby, Dr. Karsten Thompson, and Dr. Mauricio Almeida.