Vanderbilt, Schlumberger Strenghten Relationship

Schlumberger and the School of Engineering have develped a mutually beneficial relationship. Schlumberger, which covers almost every continent as a supplier of technology and information services to the international petroleum industry and Internet technology services to telecommunications and other sectors, has found remarkable success with its School of Engineering hires.

The company co-sponsored a business etiquette training dinner for engineering students and participated in a technology-related career fair in the spring of 2001. Student interest in the company led to more interaction between Vanderbilt and Schlumberger, and this year Schlumberger tied Sprint for hiring the most Vanderbilt engineering graduates. Ryan Brechbill of the Vanderbilt Career Center says, “Throughout the academic year, Schlumberger participated in our Career Fairs and campus interviews; additionally, they sponsored Career Center events.”

Daniel Tesfamicael, recruiter for Schlumberger’s North American Oil Field Services, expresses excitement at the bonds forming between his company and Engineering graduates. “We at Schlumberger consider Vanderbilt to be one of the best universities in the country,” he says. “Vanderbilt is one of our main recruiting sources, and we have had great success recruiting engineers and geologists there.” Tesfamicael also notes that Schlumberger “looks forward to continuing our relationship with Vanderbilt and to becoming the number-one source of employment for engineers and applied sciences majors at Vanderbilt. We appreciate the quality of Vanderbilt’s graduates as well as the services that the Career Center provides our company.”

One engineering graduate has particularly enjoyed his first few months with Schlumberger. Matthew Fleming, BE’01, feels that “Schlumberger is a different kind of company. Most of the engineers they hire from Vanderbilt will start as field engineers, as VUSE graduates are known to be proficient in software skills.” Fleming says that Vanderbilt alumni “have the people skills, the experience presenting concepts and thoughts, and the ability to work well in groups” necessary for success in the business world. He remarks, “My job is constantly changing: I am always facing a new set of challenges. As a field engineer, I am not tied to a cubicle or a computer.” Schlumberger’s worldwide operations allow workers a great deal of mobility; as one recruiter told Fleming, “See the world and let Schlumberger pay for it.” A diverse company with about 25 percent of its revenue and workforce coming from overseas, Schlumberger literally offers a global working environment.

A catalyst for the recent Vanderbilt–Schlumberger affinity has been alumnus Joseph Flowers, BE’88, who applied for and secured a grant from Schlumberger to support the research of Jim Davidson, Professor of Electrical Engineering. He says, “I have great respect both for Vanderbilt Engineering and for my company, Schlumberger. When I found out that Schlumberger gives technical grants, I expected that Vanderbilt would have a project which would meet our interests.” The specifics of Professor Davidson’s work are of interest both to academia and industry, as Flowers notes: “The grants allow VUSE to accelerate its pace of innovation in micro-scale and nano-scale engineering.” Improvements in microstructures and nanostructures, which Professor Davidson works with, have wide-ranging benefits which could be of help to Schlumberger. Flowers credits his Vanderbilt education with preparing him for the many facets of working for an innovative company such as Schlumberger, as he left school with “a high degree of technical expertise along with a balance of non-scientific skills for everyday use.” In looking forward, he sees that Vanderbilt is “constantly improving its position in the collective intellectual consciousness, which allows the School to solicit ever more impressive challenges.”

Centennial Professor Richard Speece Retires Centennial Professor Richard Speece retires after a 13-year career as a CEE faculty member. Richard E. Speece, Centennial Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, retired last fall from his position at Vanderbilt. Speece came to Vanderbilt in 1988 and influenced colleagues and students alike with his originality in tackling significant environmental problems. David Kosson, Chair of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, says, “Professor Speece has made outstanding contributions to the School of Engineering through his teaching and research.” Eleven patents, over 120 archival publications, and exceptional praise from students attest to Professor Speece’s successful career, and Professor Kosson cites the “widespread adoption of the approaches he has developed for surface water oxygenation and anaerobic biological treatments of wastes” as an indicator of Professor Speece’s professional impact. While garnering numerous awards, he helped train a generation of environmental engineers now following in his path, changing the way we view the relationship between society and the environment. One of Speece’s novel ideas in wastewater treatment was to add small polyethylene structures for bacteria to cling to in wastewater tanks, which led to an optimized treatment process yielding effluent almost completely free of organic pollution, ammonia nitrate and bacteria. The project promises to save Tennessee and other states millions of dollars in expansion costs for wastewater treatment systems as rural areas become populated.