| From the President’s
Desk I must express my
appreciation to Don Garrett and his committee for the hard work and
organization of the first AADE National Fin, Feather & Fur Food
Fest. Due to their great efforts, the event was a major success.
Many other companies have now expressed their intent to participate
in the next FFFFF scheduled for November 16, 2005 in Houston. This
event is expected to experience massive growth as well as provide
enjoyment and networking opportunities for our members and generate
the funds needed for AADE’s expanding programs and operations.
The AADE Knowledge Box program is
progressing at a rapid pace. This program is administered by the
Offshore Energy Center, and is tailored to teach energy education
and promote our industry to public school students. At the moment,
there are a number of steps being taken toward getting grants from a
variety of State and Federal entities to further advance the
program. In addition, in the near future we will begin a program
which will allow our industry companies to become involved in the
financial support of this very important program.
For those unfamiliar with the
Knowledge Box, it is a program to go into public schools, and
possibly other areas, to teach them about our oil and gas industry.
The program is designed to not only educate them, but to also clear
the misconceptions we are constantly inundated with by those who are
always trying to blame our industry for our world’s pollution and
other problems. Although the program is still in the infant stage,
we are already getting very good reviews from the teachers and
students who have been using the Knowledge Box. As we get more
Knowledge Boxes in the schools, we anticipate that we will make a
difference in the public’s opinion of the oil and gas industry.
Some of our local AADE Chapters now
support seven AADE Student Sections located at universities in
Montana, Colorado, Texas and Louisiana. This expanding project
provides the forum needed to expose these future engineers to the
technology and the many opportunities available in both the operator
and service company sectors. I encourage drilling industry
representatives make on campus technical presentations to the AADE
Student Sections. This not only provides an educational service to
them but also promotes their company to these prospective new
employees.
I have both pride and sadness with
my next comment. Pride that AADE stepped up to the plate but
sadness of such a tragic loss. In early 2004 a former AADE Student
Section President and later drilling engineer for a major operator
lost his life in an offshore aviation accident. In his memory, the
David Kamolsiri Memorial Endowed Scholarship program was established
at Louisiana State University and several AADE Chapters have now
made substantial financial contributions to insure its success.
The AADE National Technical
Conference and Exhibition will be held on April 5-7, 2005, at the
Wyndham Greenspoint Hotel in Houston. For full details, visit the
AADE website at www.aade.org.
Your President
Andy Ellis |
