Mark G. Miller

Education

I graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a Petroleum Engineering Ph.D. in 1996. My research involved numerical simulation of air coring operations at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. I take care of the department’s computing resources, teach EPICS, and conduct research.

Petroleum Engineering Computing Resources

With the renovation of Alderson Hall in 1994, the Petroleum Engineering Department implemented its Computing Resource Plan. The department dedicated space for a twenty-computer lab, purchased state-of-the-art computers and software, and began integrating the computer lab into classroom activities. Our goal is to train the students to use the most modern petroleum engineering computing tools available.

Almost a million dollars worth of industry software is donated to the department each year. This includes reservoir simulation, well testing, drilling, log analysis, and fracturing software. All of the lab’s maintenance is paid from funds donated to the department. With the help of these donations, our department’s computer lab is regarded as one of the best on campus.

Classes are regularly held in the lab. Last year we purchased a digital projector to enhance our ability to demonstrate software to students. Because the projector has multimedia capabilities, professors have been able to give students a better feel for tools and field operations. It has also come in handy showing “Hell Fighters” to the AADE student chapter.

Our network is available to all students taking petroleum engineering classes. Because of the increased focus on integrated multi-disciplinary studies, students from seven other departments and divisions (Chemical Engineering, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Economics and Business, Engineering, Mathematics, Geology, Geophysics) attend our classes and use our computer lab. The lab also gets a workout during the summer when the department teaches short courses. Other than the lab, there are over 40 computers used in research programs and other activities around the department.

EPICS

I am also privileged to be a part of the EPICS program. I was among the entering 1981 fall semester students who were given the opportunity to become guinea pigs for the new EPICS program. The purpose of EPICS was to provide teamwork, speaking, writing, and computing experience culminating with project work for an industrial client. During the fall semester, I guide the students through a Fortran project, while during the spring semester I find industry projects for the students to work on. Some of these projects have included extending a natural gas pipeline to a small Colorado town, developing drilling software, and evaluating the merits of large-scale importation of LNG. Beginning this semester, the EPICS program is being revised to be a two semester sequence, rather than four, and will focus on project design.

Research

While at Mines, I have been part of a number of research projects. The most prominent of them has been involvement with DERG, Drilling Engineering Research Group. More about DERG can be found under Dr. Bill Eustes’ section of this newsletter. I helped complete the reservoir simulation portion of the multi-disciplinary study of the Hambert field, a three year DOE funded study.