The UC Irvine chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) held its first general meeting on January 16th. With about 50 students in attendance, representing majors such as chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and even information and computer science, the event introduced SPE to the UC Irvine student community. Spearheaded by UCI SPE chapter president Asim Shakour, a Chemical Engineering major, the night featured Mr. Baldev Gill, the chairperson of the Los Angeles chapter of SPE and a petroleum operations coordinator for Long Beach Gas & Oil, as the main speaker. Other speakers included Dr. Ted Frankiewicz and Andrew Lopez from SPEC Services and Ms. Devon Shay from Signal Hill Petroleum, Inc., each sharing their experience in the industry. Mr. Gill rounded out the main sessions with his own insightful and light-hearted presentation on the technical underpinning of oil production in Long Beach. The evening came to a close with a Q&A panel wherein the speakers addressed questions pertaining to employment in the oil industry. The Society of Petroleum Engineers hopes that this first event will encourage students to partake in the UCI chapter’s activities throughout the remainder of the year.