The University of Tulsa's Petroleum Engineering Department

Somporn Vongvuthipornchai, who is from Thailand, obtained all his college degrees from The University of Tulsa. He got his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering from TU. After graduating from TU in 1985, he went back to Thailand and joined the Department of Mineral Resources of Thailand as a Petroleum Engineer. He then joined Thailand’s National Oil Company, PTT Exploration and Production plc., in 1991, serving in various areas including Corporate Planning, New Ventures, Economics and Commercial, and Human Resources Development. After spending 6 years in charge of Business Development of new opportunities for the Company, both domestically and in the region, in 2001 he was promoted to VP, Strategy and Capability Development. His current position is VP, Geosciences, where he looks after groups of geoscientists and reservoir engineers.

Somporn in his own words:

Why did you choose TU?

When I decided to choose the university for my undergraduate study, the reason was simply the look and feel of the Campus. In fact, I came to Tulsa to visit the University in 1978 prior to my deciding to transfer to TU. Afterwards, when I had another chance to choose for my graduate school, the reason was more calculated. It was the faculty, the curriculum and the research available.

Did TU prepare you well for your future endeavors?

TU has been very useful to my job and career. Both course works and research works were highly practical and industry oriented. I learnt and enjoyed so much during my study at TU. I am thankful to all the faculties that I had classes and associated with, especially the late Dr. Zelimir Schmidt and Dr. James Brill who gave lot of good advice during my M.S. study and Dr. Rajagopal Raghavan during my Ph.D. study.

Any fond memories of being at TU?

I must say that it was one of the best times in my life. Almost 20 years away from TU, there still remain many fond memories. The North Campus, where we learnt to be punctual to catch a bus. A P-Chem. class, where we had no lecture but were required to take a test in each session. The NIT Championship game. The Skelly Stadium for the Golden Hurricane football games. A move to the new engineering Keplinger Hall. A beer party every Friday late afternoon in the PE graduate student office. And friends from almost every continent of the world.