Geosciences students 2nd in world petroleum geology competition

A team of geosciences graduate students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln was awarded second place honors in the international finals of the Imperial Barrel Competition, an annual contest sponsored by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. The team members were presented with a trophy and $10,000 on June 8 in Denver.

This year's competition attracted teams of graduate students from 89 universities from around the world. Students are given a subsurface geoscientific dataset and have to develop and present their interpretation of its prospectivity for oil or gas discovery. A series of 10 regional competitions was held to determine the finalists that competed at the annual AAPG meeting. The UNL team won its regional competition in April, defeating last year's champion team from the University of Oklahoma. It was narrowly defeated at the finals in Denver by a team from Lomonosov State University in Moscow, Russia, in a contest that judges announced was almost too close to call.

"The team's performance at an international competition of this caliber is remarkable," said David Manderscheid, dean of UNL's College of Arts and Sciences. "It is a testament to the determination and intelligence of our students, and also highlights the excellence of faculty in our department of geosciences and the quality of graduate students they attract."

This is the first year UNL has competed for the International Barrel Award. Team members are Brian Blackstone of Casper, Wyo., Charles Kittinger "Kit" Clark of Pasadena, Calif., Jessica Pritchard of Spring, Texas, and Matthew Corbett of Boston. Their faculty adviser is Chris Fielding, professor of geosciences.

"Ultimately, it doesn't matter what the result is, if you've done your best, you should be pleased," Fielding said of his students' victory. "This outcome was a bonus, and I'm really pleased. It means that we're doing some things right here at UNL in terms of training students in this field."

UNL students also received additional prizes at the APPG meeting. Corbett received an award for Best Student Poster Presentation, for his work on Mesozoic rock sequences in the Henry Mountains of Utah. Second prize in the same contest went to Blackstone, for his work on Cenozoic rock sequences drilled during the recent ANDRILL expedition to the McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.