Emuobosa Patience Ojoboh is a second-year graduate student working toward a dual degree in geology and data analytics. Born in the Niger Delta in Nigeria, oil production and its environmental impacts including poor air quality, water and soil pollution, were a part of daily life.
“I'm from a very small minority community. I grew up seeing how oil production affected the community and how all the side effects, that were not talked about then, were affecting the community,” she said. “Growing up, even at a very young age, I really wanted to be part of the energy industry working to make things better. I knew there was a problem even as a young girl, but I also knew that energy was very important so I wanted to be part of the solution for producing energy in a more safe and sustainable way that was also reliable and affordable.”
As one of four daughters growing up in a community where girls were not expected to be educated, Ojoboh is grateful for the support of her parents to pursue her education.
“My parents were kind of laughed at for sending us to schools that were expensive. It was seen as a waste where I’m from,” she said. “I had two major motivators: the fact that I was experiencing all these things in my community, and also being a girl child where I’m from, I needed to prove to the world that I had so much more to offer than just being a wife and mother.”
She excelled in high school and went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in geology from Delta State University where she graduated with honors.
“I was at the top of the class, but I was only one of three girls. I remember one boy telling me, why am I working so hard when I'm still going to end up in a man's kitchen and stuff like that? So, it felt like everything they'd said to me made me want to do more because I needed to prove myself. I knew I had so much more inside of me.”
After completing her bachelor’s degree, Ojoboh had an internship with Shell in Nigeria where she was able to meet female mentors who encouraged her to pursue a graduate degree.
“I got to meet a lot of women that have been doing so many amazing things, and I knew then that I really wanted to be part of this discussion about energy, producing it clean and making it sustainable, reliable, and affordable,” she said.
Her search for a graduate school led her to the United States and the University of Oklahoma where she is studying the effects of wastewater injection and hydraulic fracturing on seismic activity. As a teaching assistant, Ojoboh has experienced challenges unique to being a Black woman in STEM, but she feels OU has provided good support and resources to help overcome challenges.
“I'm really grateful to OU. OU changed my life. It’s such a great place to be. I have friends in graduate school at other places and I can tell you that OU is very student-oriented – doing everything to make you succeed,” she said.
She is the vice president of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, OU chapter, and the fundraising chair for the Society of Women in Engineering. An avid volunteer, particularly about children’s education and girls in STEM. She credits her volunteerism for helping her find mentors and support that have encouraged her pursuits.
“When you belong to a community and you invest in the community, the community invests back into you. It’s like a family. Finding the right community is very important,” she said.
Ojoboh will begin an internship with Denbury in May. Her graduate project, “Characteristics of Mineralized Fractures in the Basement Rock of Northern Oklahoma,” is advised by. Brent Carpenter, assistant professor in the School of Geosciences, Mewbourne College of Earth of Energy.
