Remarks by WNAR Director

Dear WNAR Colleagues,

I hope you had a wonderful Holiday Season and are rested and fresh to set up your goals for the  New Year.

At the Region level, we were blessed to have five outstanding  candidates for the 2012-2015 WNAR Director position, which made the selection decision by the Section Chairs very difficult as the candidates  were all truly capable and any one of them could do a marvelous job as WNAR Director.  In alphabetical order, they were:  Louis Castanier, Ramon Elias, Roland Horne, Young Kirkwood and Tom Walsh.   Thank you Jerry Hale for heading the Nominating Committee and thank you the Section  Chairs for your input.  I would also like to give a heart felt thanks to the nominees for volunteering to serve SPE in that capacity.   

Because of the excellence of all candidates, I have presented all five candidate’s names to SPE along with the ranking s by the WNAR Council,  which were very close.    SPE will review the qualifications and make a decision .  The results will be announced in June and if not contested , will be final for October. If contested, a region-wide election will be held.

 The National Engineers Week on Feb 20-26 will provide opportunities for getting points toward becoming the President’s Outstanding Section  by publicizing your outstanding Petroleum Engineering Projects and the use of Energy 4 Me Kits.  So let’s all try to tell the public about our industry   by individual speeches, project  tours,  newspaper articles, and interviews by radio, television, clubs, etc.

Another very important activity coming up is the 2012 WRM being hosted by SJV Section in Bakersfield in 19-23 March.  Your help is urgently needed not only to help the Section Chair, Larry Miller ;  Andrei Popa, Young Kirkwood and Ron Behren and others running the meeting, but getting a good slate of Awards Nominees before the Feb 1 deadline.  Remember that we need nominees for eight technical areas plus outstanding Young Professional,  Corporate Support  and Regional Outstanding Service.. etc.

Happy New Year to all.

A.M. Sam Sarem, Ph.D., P.E., SPE Directo r / WNAR

Sam4iprc@aol.com, 714.692.1198

Each year engineers in our community come together to deliver programs and events to educate the public and prepare the future generation of engineers as part of the larger National Engineers Week (E-Week) events.  Local E-Week events include:

·         E-Week Displays – Engineering companies and professional organizations display their projects and goals in a public setting to share how engineers contribute to our community

·         Classroom Speaking – Volunteers share their jobs with students across the Anchorage Bowl over a two-week time period

·         Student Tours – High school students get to see engineering in practice and get to have personal conversations with engineers working in the community to learn more about what we do.

·         Student Competitions – Students from kindergarten through high school get to apply their skills and imagination to several different challenges, including Egg Drop, Paper Airplanes, and more!

·         Scholarships – High school students get our support to pursue engineering through the awarding of scholarships.

·         Engineer of the Year –  We recognize the contributions of our peers to our community at the E-Week Banquet and award an overall Engineer of the Year.

The steering committee’s time is donated, as are many of the supplies.  But, successfully putting on these events and activities takes time and money.  And that’s where you come in.  We need you to join us in supporting Engineers Week and the future of engineering in Alaska! 

We have appended a fundraising letter that provides more information on our efforts and how to give.  Any amount is appreciated!  Small donations provide big impacts!

If you have any questions, please contact Karthik Murugesan at kmurugesan@uskh.com or 343-5229 or Melissa Branch at branchm@eeiteam.com or 563-3835.

We hope to see you during E-Week – February 19-25, 2012!

Karthik and Melissa

PLEDGE FORM