Chairperson's message for January 2010
I wish everyone Happy Holidays and congratulate everyone on making it into the New Year. Year 2010 will be one of our busiest years as the Los Angeles SPE Section hosts the 2010 SPE Western Regional Meeting (WRM) in collaboration with the Pacific Section AAPG and Cordilleran Section GSA. At this time, we are currently seeking volunteers and organizing our committees for the event. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Dr. Jalal Torabzadeh, our WRM Chairperson or our Co-Chairperson Scott Hara or myself. All members contact information is posted on our website at www.laspe.org. The WRM Committee is currently seeking volunteers for the following Committees:
1. Registration (someone to ensure our SPE member registration is correct, and that we get proper credit and charges from GSA, track member housing at hotel, work with Jalal on room availability for all SPE presentation sessions and activities)
2. Treasurer (can be combined with Registration): Thank you Rick Finken and Jack Smith
3. SPE Student Activities (includes student tours, activities, arrangements, and awards dinner)
4. SPE Student Paper Contest (Fund raising - host campus will be USC)
5. Membership (handle SPE booth, recruit members, sell SPE books, etc)
6. Exhibits and Publicity (combine both for this conference): Need to contact oil field vendors and handle general publicity for SPE activities, such as soliciting volunteers for various activities, and publicity for cont education, awards luncheon, paper contest, outreach, panels and sessions.
7. WNAR Awards and Awards Luncheon: Sam Sarem and volunteer
8. WRM Short Courses Coordinator: Thank you AB for volunteering
The WRM Committee hopes to appoint volunteers very soon and SPE appreciates all your help. Everyone on the LA SPE board will have a special role in making the event a success.
Along with the WRM, SPE has many events planned for the 2010 Year. This year we plan to continue with our outreach activities, such as the Easter Egg Hunt and our participation for Career Day-Read-In at International Elementary School in Long Beach. Scott Hara and Rick Finkin have already organized the first MESA outreach event and organized a tour for students to visit the THUMS Islands. The Student outreach Committee is also organizing an event at the 2010 Western Regional Meeting and the committee is open to any new ideas.
LA SPE also participates in the Annual Los Angeles, Orange County and State Science Fairs. The fairs involve SPE board members and committee members talking with young elementary students and reviewing their science projects. We award three winners for each county for the most creative projects that relate to the petroleum industry. Jack Smith, Ed Santiago, Christian Saldivar, and myself have been actively involved in the past three year. The committee is open to any new volunteers. The science fairs are usually held in March and April and you may contact Jack Smith if you would like to participate in the selections.
For the 2010 year, Jack Smith, our SPE Scholarship Chairmen, has updated the LA SPE Scholarship Information on the SPE website. The committee will be selecting and awarding students for the Mei Chang Memorial Scholarship, Bruce Davis Memorial Scholarship, and the Undergraduate and Graduate Scholarships. Deadlines are on April 9, 2010.
Last but not least is our annual LASPE Charity Golf Tournament that will take place on May 7th, 2010 at the Los Serranos Country Club in Chino Hills, California. The golf tournament is one of the biggest fundraisers for LASPE and it provides the majority of our operating budget every year. We have a new Golf Tournament Chairmen, Mark Shemaria. He has been on the committee before and he has done a great job in the past years. We appreciate his help and his effort in heading this year’s Golf Tournament committee. SPE would also like to thank Mike Filbey, our former Golf Tournament Chairmen, for his commitment to SPE and his excellent job over the years.
2010 will be a great year and I appreciate everyone’s involvement.
Again, thank you for your SPE support.
Vanessa Perez
LA SPE Chairperson