“The CRGC currently has seven sponsoring companies, all of which are based in Australia. It is well recognised that in an oil and gas context, Australia is a relatively small player and most of the geophysical research effort and funding emanates from the U.S. in general, and Houston in particular. With the recent mergers of BP-Amoco, Conoco-Phillips, the R&D funding pool in the U.S. is downsizing also.
Curtin Geophysics has made a decision therefore to try to attract additional Houston-based oil companies to invest in research done by the Curtin Reservoir Geophysics Consortium in Perth, and has decided that this would best be done through a one-day technical seminar during January in Houston.
WesternGeco, one of our sponsors, has agreed to provide their conference centre in Houston for this purpose, and we have sent out invitations to many company personnel in Houston for the one day seminar on January 25th. Seven Curtin Geophysics personnel are travelling to Houston, including four faculty and three PhD students. We intend to not only showcase our technical work but also show the quality of students we are producing.
All sponsors have expressed the opinion that there are few quality students being produced in the U.S. and that Curtin could help by providing such students through our teaching and research program. Consequently, we have also devised a new student Masters/PhD program which we will be presenting to the industry at the Houston meeting. In this program, U.S. based companies agree to indenture a Masters/PhD student of their choice working on a project of their choice. The student would work with us for 8 months of the year on the Masters/PhD project, and 4 months a year as an intern within the company. On completion of the degree, the company would be expected to offer a job to the Masters/PhD graduate.
In this way, Curtin has the potential to attract many top-quality U.S.based Masters/PhD students to train in Perth, which will return to their home companies on completion of their degree. The attraction for the company is a guaranteed top-quality home-based well trained employee. The attraction for the student is coming to train in a safe and attractive country (Australia) with quality support in terms of both research and education.”
Dr Brian Evans, Dept of Exploration Geophysics, Curtin University
For more information on CRGC research or the Curtin indentured degree program, please contact Dr Brian Evans on evans@geophy.curtin.edu.au or Professor John McDonald on mcdonald@geophy.curtin.edu.au.
