Highlighting a second annual visit, a group of instructors and master students from the visited the University of Oklahoma at the invitation of the Institute for Resilient Environmental and Energy Systems (IREES). NDU, a higher education institution funded by the Department of Defense, facilitates education, training, and professional development opportunities for national security leaders. Programming for this visit was led by IREES faculty fellow Li Song, Ph.D. professor in the Gallogly College of Engineering.
“We are very excited to have the opportunity to host this group of energetic students on the OU campus each year. In addition to getting a crash course on unconventional energy production, the students engaged in great conversations about many different energy related topics, ranging from geothermal and methane sensing technologies at OU to our newly launched Sustainability Energy System certificate program.”
The 15 students, led by two faculty members, Lieutenant Colonel (P) Timothy Wyant and Anita Kellogg, Ph.D., visited OU as a part of their energy study course. Learn technologies and understand challenges in energy technology, policy and decision making. The students are active military in the U.S. and among our international allies, ranging in rank from brigadier general, colonel, lieutenant colonel, and commander in the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Army National Guard, U.S. Navy, U.S. Space Force, and the International Forces.
“We see programs, like this collaboration with NDU, as a critically important bridge connecting scholarship to practical application,” said Tim Filley, Ph.D. IREES director and professor in the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences. “Our goal is to provide these leaders with a program that covers energy technologies, the challenges and opportunities they present, and the role of policy in crafting solutions.”
IREES hosted a series of seminars, led by OU experts, including Berrien Moore, Ph.D., dean of the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences; Chandra Rai, Ph.D., professor, and Martin G. Miller, chair in petroleum engineering; John Antonio, Ph.D., dean in the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy; Runar Nygaard, Ph.D., director of the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy and Eberly Family Chair and professor of petroleum engineering; Binbin Weng, Ph.D., professor in the Gallogly College of Engineering; and Catalin Teodoriu, Ph.D., professor in the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy.
The students toured Professor Teodoriu’s Well Integrity Laboratory and the Integrated Core Characterization Center, directed by Professor Chandra Rai. Finishing out the tours, the students visited Li Song’s Smart Home to see a 1940’s home transformed into a research lab to study energy-efficient heating and cooling systems.
Professor Teodoriu also led a full-day tour of Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Company’s Rig 918 and facility site in Tulsa, OK to demonstrate the real-world impact of oil and gas engineering research.
Written By: Mikayla Foreman
