A More Diversified Petroleum Engineering Education for New Energy Challenges

Abstract

Although the most diversified petroleum engineering program possible should be provided for our undergraduates, such a program cannot be at the expense of our current core programs. An undergraduate curriculum emphasizing basic science and engineering is our best assurance that our graduates can contribute to society in spite of cyclic demand for petroleum engineers. Petroleum engineering departments and the profession should anticipate the need for engineers to develop alternative energy sources, but this is not expected to affect petroleum engineering programs significantly before the turn of the century. These changes, when they do come, most likely will and should occur first in graduate programs.