Sparks fly at Energy Club

According to U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, there is no greater issuefacing our world over the next century than energy. It’s withthese concerns that the BBA Energy Association was established twoyears ago through the Maguire Energy Institute, which is a part ofthe Cox School of Business.

“There is a need in our industry for different disciplinesin business,” said Mark Baxter, director of the MaguireEnergy Institute and the faculty advisor for the EnergyAssociation. “We are trying to equip and teach our studentsto participate and get involved in this field.”

One way in which members of the organization got involved wasthrough volunteering their time to running events like the energysymposium held Monday afternoon in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center.It featured Rep. Joe Barton, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison andCongressman Pete Sessions. They discussed topics ranging fromcurrent national policy regarding the future of energy tointernational relationships as shaped by oil and gas.

“Events like this benefit our members and teach them howto network,” said Neal Pedersen, a sophomore and president ofthe energy association. “In order to get somewhere in life ithelps to know somebody. This symposium is the perfect opportunityto ask these corporations questions and maybe even open up adoorway to an internship.”

Though the energy association is only two years old and about 12members strong, the organization has done consulting research forPelagas, a subsidiary of Estee Lauder involving the petroleumindustry for an international project. Last semester the grouptraveled to Houston and visited the Exxon-Mobile plant, learninghow oil is refined and pipelined to different cities. A large partof the organization focuses on teaching its members as much aboutthe oil and gas field as they want to learn.

Pedersen said, “Many of our members come from a diversebackground and don’t necessarily have a lot of experience inenergy, but we are just looking for students who are interested andcommitted to learn and bring something to the table.”

For now he would like the club to grow and develop into anorganization with a reputation on campus for aiding students withan interest in this growing field where statistically mostprofessionals are around the age of 50.

Sophomore Jonathan Peters said, “Energy seems like a goodopportunity in the future because the general trend tends to stayaway from it.”