Department News & Announcements

Changing the Name
of the Department of Petroleum Engineering

Summary

The Department of Petroleum Engineering is undertaking a new curricular direction, and changing its name to the Department of Energy Resources Engineering.

Preamble

For over 90 years the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Stanford University has been one of the leading petroleum engineering departments in the world. The Department is widely-renowned in research and teaching in areas related to the geological characterization and modeling of fluid flow in subsurface formations. Much of the Department’s specific emphasis has been in the general area of reservoir engineering and includes reservoir description and geostatistics, well testing, reservoir flow simulation, enhanced oil recovery, optimization, and advanced well modeling. The Department is also a leader in geothermal engineering and related areas. More recently, Department activities have expanded further into other disciplines outside traditional petroleum engineering such as carbon dioxide sequestration, coal bed methane recovery, and unconventional oil and gas recovery.

The Department's nine faculty include four members of the National Academy of Engineering, yet we have the youngest average age among the departments of the School of Earth Sciences.  The Department is a top target for graduate student applications internationally (commonly admitting about one out of four applicants). 

Hence, currently the Department is top-ranked, mainly for oil and gas research but also in areas that are unrelated to oil and gas research.

Proposal to Change Name

The energy resources and technologies used in the United States and throughout the world are likely to change significantly over the first half of this century. It is essential that we position the Department such that we can influence and adjust to this changing energy landscape. While retaining leadership positions in existing areas of strength, we plan to extend our current capabilities into new research and teaching areas that fall under the more general context of energy resources. To more accurately reflect the future directions of the Department, as well as our current activities which are already much broader than those encompassed in a traditional petroleum engineering program, we proposed the new name -- Department of Energy Resources Engineering.

Reasons to Change Name

The energy climate in the 21st century is very different than even 20 years ago, and is certain to change even more rapidly in the coming years.  Issues such as global climate change and the possibility of the imminent surpassing of "peak oil" have accelerated the need for energy diversification and for new ways to look at energy.

At the same time, Stanford students have taken a renewed interest in energy, and their educational needs are being met only partially.  With the prospect of a revolution in energy in front of them, Stanford students are motivated to learn about energy more generally than in a traditional curriculum such as Petroleum Engineering.  Oil and gas are likely to remain an important energy source for quite a considerable time and it is therefore contingent on us to continue to offer programs that include some of this material, however it is also clear that any such program needs to be broader and more forward looking.

Proposed Activities of the New Department

As the Department of Energy Resources Engineering, we plan to continue offering graduate degrees in Petroleum Engineering, along with new undergraduate and graduate degrees in Energy Resources Engineering. The Department will maintain its current areas of emphasis while addressing new opportunities. Research efforts will focus on the development and advancement of scientific and engineering principles directed towards the following technical challenges:

• Computational and experimental techniques for complex multiphase, multicomponent flows in heterogeneous subsurface formations.
• Subsurface characterization based on consistent integration of all data streams to provide realistic geological descriptions for resource estimation and flow modeling.
• Geological sequestration of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.
• Geothermal engineering and other alternative technologies such as tidal and wave energy.
• Recovery of natural gas from unconventional sources (deep shales, hydrates, tight gas sands, coal beds).
• In-situ processing and recovery of energy resources from tar sands, heavy oil reservoirs, shales and other nonconventional sources with much reduced emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases.
• Optimization to maximize energy recovery while minimizing negative environmental and societal impact.

Expected Impacts

The Department expects to provide educational opportunities to Stanford undergraduate and graduate students interested in energy.  As the Department of Energy Resources Engineering, the program would be part of a broader set of activities that are taking place across campus.  In particular, the ERE department will be able to provide a cornerstone of energy resources, to fit together with energy conversion (Department of Mechanical Engineering), energy management (Department of Management Science and Engineering) and energy and the environment (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering), among others.

The current research activities in Petroleum Engineering will continue – these research programs are technically challenging, important to gaining energy efficiency and effectiveness, and are well supported by industry and government.  Several of these current research areas already embrace directions other than oil and gas, and research in these and other alternative energy areas will be expanded.

Discussions with Stakeholders

Making bold changes to a department that has existed almost since the founding of the university is not something to be undertaken lightly.  The proposal to make the change has been formulated in discussion with the following groups.

Faculty: The nine tenure-track faculty and three part-time teaching faculty gathered in a retreat in January 2006 to discuss this change.  The direction, details and exact wording of the research and curriculum descriptions was formulated by this group (in January and in subsequent meetings).  The 12 member faculty was unanimous in its agreement with the proposal.

Current Petroleum Engineering students:  Graduate students who are currently studying for MS and PhD degrees in the Department of Petroleum Engineering were told of the proposal to modify the department's direction in February 2006, and a "town meeting" was held to allow them the opportunity to express their views.  The current students are not unanimous in their views – some are supportive of the idea, and others are concerned that it may detract from the recognition of the department (Petroleum Engineering) from which they will hold degrees.

Other Energy faculty:  There are many faculty members across the university who conduct research and/or teach classes in subjects associated with energy.  Many (but not all) are members of the Energy Committee of the Woods Institute for the Environment.  An outline of the proposal was discussed with the members of this committee in April 2006.  The feedback was generally supportive, with the most common concern being that the direction of the department should not overlap too prominently with the directions of others.  The research and curriculum directions for ERE were designated specifically in an attempt to avoid such overlaps, and for the most part faculty from other parts of the university did not appear to have difficulty with the focus on energy resources.  Many were positive about the idea, and saw it as a useful expansion of energy activities in the academic profile of the university.

School of Earth Sciences Advisory Board:  An outline of the proposal was presented to the Advisory Board of the School of Earth Sciences in April 2006.  The majority of the Advisory Board were enthusiastically in favor of the proposed new directions.  One or two members were concerned that it may not be a good idea.

Earth Sciences Council:  A formal proposal was made to the Earth Sciences Council on April 28, 2006.  The Council voted unanimously to accept the proposed changes.

Alumni:  Approximately 1000 letters were sent to alumni of the department and to Stanford graduates (from other departments) who work in the oil and gas industries, informing them of our plan to change the department.  Responses were not requested, but were received from some people.  About 90% of responses were in favor of the change, 10% were against.

In summary, although not unanimous, the preponderance of feedback regarding the proposed change has been positive, much of it enthusiastically so.  The smaller number of people expressing reservations have raised legitimate concerns that were considered carefully during our own deliberations.  In balance, we decided that the concerns will be addressed by appropriate care in designing the new program.