Chairperson's message for December 2004
View from the chair. . .
Dear Fellow SPE members,
On November 18, I had the opportunity to visit the FSEA (Future Scientists and Engineers of America) program in action at the Mabel Paine Elementary School in Yorba Linda. There were 19 fourth and fifth graders present, attending school in a temporary classroom, because their school had been damaged during the recent rainstorms. As you may be aware, LASPE supports the FSEA program at Mabel Paine and the students, in addition to working on general science projects, also get some basic information about the petroleum industry. On November 18, the students saw an SPE video on exploration and production, heard a talk giving an overview of the petroleum industry, and another one discussing everyday uses of petroleum and natural gas.The inquisitiveness of these young students and their readiness to ask questions was refreshing. The positive impact that the FSEA program is having on these students in terms of arousing their interest in science subjects was clearly evident. We thank Sam Sarem for being an enthusiastic advocate of this program, and for helping in its successful implementation at Mabel Paine.
According to SPE headquarters, the Los Angeles Basin Section will be fifty years old on February 13, 2005. While there is some question about the actual age of our section –many members believe that the section is considerably older -- there is still overwhelming support for having an anniversary celebration in February 2005. One idea being considered is to have a series of talks pertaining to the change in the California oil industry and technology over the past fifty years, and how the industry might change in the coming decades. Once the anniversary celebration plans are finalized, I will discuss them in this column, and all LASPE members will be notified via email.
Sincerely,
Raj Upadhyay
LASPE Chairperson 2004-2005upadhyayraj@hotmail.com
upadhyayraj@hotmail.com