The Casper Journal :: Casper's Community Newspaper

At a time when many college students are enjoying a break from their studies, two women are wrapping up a 10-week summer internship program at the Teapot Dome oilfield as participants of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship program.

Jennifer Anderson from Buffalo, Wyo., and Jane Ng from San Francisco, Calif., are conducting field studies at Teapot Dome as members of this DOE Office of Fossil Energy program that supports women and under-represented minorities majoring in math, science and engineering.

They are assisting the professional staff at DOE's Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center (RMOTC), which operates the oilfield and technology testing center officially known as Naval Petroleum Reserve #3 (NPR-3) near Midwest.

Anderson is identifying bentonite-rich areas and shallow sub-surface faults under the guidance of RMOTC geologist Tom Anderson. She has completed her second year at Casper College and will graduate in May 2010 with an associate of science degree in Geology and Chemistry with a Certificate in GIS.

Ng is completing an integrated analysis of subsurface data from wellbores and 3-D seismic data with direction from RMOTC geologist Brian Black. She is a junior at Harvard University majoring in Earth and Planetary Sciences/Engineering.

The Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship (MLEF) program is administered through DOE's Office of Fossil Energy. Named for a Texas Congressman who died in an airplane crash in 1989, the MLEF program offers summer internship opportunities for college students at eleven field offices and DOE headquarters in Washington, DC.

The goals of the MLEF program are to promote careers in the Fossil Energy Program and also promote engineering, science and technology, particularly in fossil fuel research & development.

The primary mission of DOE's Office of Fossil Energy is ensuring the availability of clean, affordable energy from traditional fuel resources. Fossil fuels supply 85 percent of the nation's energy, and DOE employees and contractors are working on priority projects such as pollution-free coal plants, more productive oil and gas fields, and the continuing readiness of federal emergency oil stockpiles.

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