The PI was founded in 2001 by ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) as an engineering school. The formation of a school associated with an oil and gas company meant that Emiratis would not have to attend other universities across the world to pursue higher education in fields such as petroleum engineering and petroleum geophysics. The decision to promote home-grown engineers also reflects the country’s desire to increase the prestige and quality of its education. The student body hails from a wide variety of countries, including the UAE, other states around the Arabian Gulf, Egypt, Syria, India, Bangladesh, Sudan and China.

Colorado School of Mines was selected by ADNOC to help develop the curriculum at the PI. The curriculum has many similarities and several professors from Mines have had input on how classes are taught at the PI. Due to the relationship that exists between CSM and the PI, it makes sense that a student exchange program for undergraduates should exist. Until this semester, that program had not been started—thus, Cliff, Ian and I are the first Americans and the first exchange students to attend the PI.

The PI is still in its infancy when compared to most other institutions across the world, and it is pretty interesting to see how the school is forming. It’s in the process of creating school clubs, intercollegiate sports teams, intramural teams, a school song, and essentially all of the other things that come with school spirit. This also provides an opportunity for us to share some of our culture with the students here because no one does school spirit as well as American schools! Ian and I are always wearing our PI rubber wrist bands that were handed out at the start of the semester as well as getting everyone pumped up for intramurals, and I think Cliff is devising the English version of the school’s fight song.

While school spirit and student life are things that are coming with time, the school’s primary objective is obviously to educate students. I’m taking six classes this semester: Production Facilities, Well Completions and Workovers, Drilling, Natural Gas Engineering, Petroleum Project Economics, and History of the UAE.

The classes here are very small (less than 20 students)—a noticeable difference from Mines. The professors engage the students often, which makes a good environment for class discussion. It’s also great to get some different worldviews on the oil and gas industry because our professors come from all over the world. Our Petroleum Project Economics professor is Emirati, but spent a considerable amount of time studying at USC (University of Southern California). He often talks about how events in the U.S. shape the global oil market, and he has an interesting perspective from having an American education and being an employee of a national oil company. It’ll be great when he covers concessions and production contracts between private companies and national oil companies because the U.S. is one of the few countries that allows private ownership of mineral rights; most global oil and gas production involves contracts with national governments.

The History of the UAE class is fascinating. Not only does our British professor have great insights on the topic, but studying what happened in the past helps explain the national character of the country today. It is also interesting to see how much influence the British had in the area due to their interest in regional stability for the East India Company. That historical influence is why English is such a common language in the UAE.

The technical classes are also going well so far, and you never know when you’ll run into an alumnus; my drilling professor, Ferda Akgun PhD ’89, earned his doctorate in petroleum engineering from Mines.

There is a student section of SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) at the school, and we attended one of the professional section meetings in Abu Dhabi last week. We were able to meet and talk with some employees of ADNOC’s different operating companies—a great opportunity.

Now that I’ve suitably let you all know that we’re not just playing around over here, I’ve got to complete the blog with the details of last weekend’s adventures:

Cliff and I went camping outside of Ras Al Khaimah with the adventure club last Thursday and Friday. It was in the mountainous part of the country, and while the mountains don’t quite compare to those of Colorado, the camping location was about as perfect as it could be. The temperature was just right, the campsite ground was soft and flat, the moonlight was so bright you hardly needed a flashlight, and the chance of rain was what you would expect it to be in the middle of a desert. As someone who earned his Eagle Scout award while living in England and who camped double-digit nights last summer in the temperate rainforest that is Alaska, the low chance of rain was welcome.

After doing some late night cooking of shish kebabs over the fire, we headed to bed at around 3 a.m. Friday. We then got up, broke down camp and went on a hike through a canyon. The views of the area were great, and it was nice to get out of the city for a bit. We ended the day by roasting a lamb over a fire, and enjoyed a communal meal where everyone dug in to the lamb on Lebanese bread.

Dubai was calling after my time away from the city, so Ian and I made a quick day trip over on Saturday. We went to a gadget show at Atlantis The Palm, a luxury resort on the man-made Jumeirah Palm Island, and then off to The Dubai Mall to see the world’s largest aquarium and world’s largest candy store (remember, they don’t do things by halves in the Emirates).

All in all, I think it’s hard to complain with a week of interesting classes, fun clubs, camping and a trip to Dubai.

There are a few surface differences between school here and back in the states. For example, I’ve never been 18th in a list of 25 students in an alphabetical list of last names (Many people here have Al [insert collection of letters here] as their last name) with a last name that starts with a B. Class start times and meeting times are a little bit more relaxed here than at Mines, too. However, the similarities between the PI and Mines are pretty remarkable. Engineering students typically have the same interests and personalities, and most people are here in school to get a good job so that they can live comfortably and support a family later down the road.

The PI is also one of the few colleges on the planet that makes the girl-to-guy ratio at Mines look good because the male and female campuses are kept separate. While Cliff, Ian and I may struggle to compliment the ratio of one girl to four guys in the class of 2013 at CSM, it is not unusual for the students here to have had no contact with females their age. I think what’s most surprising about this is how much the students here bring it up without me prompting them. I’ve never broached the subject with anyone, but many PI students have expressed their desire to have more interaction with girls. This is just an observation from a newcomer, but when I was working out in the rec center and a picture of Paris Hilton (because everyone in America acts like they do on MTV, right?) came up on the TV, the focus of the students working out shifted away from the dumbbells and toward the screen for a bit too long…

Luckily, the people here have some pretty cool things to do in their backyard. This weekend, we went on what the locals call a desert safari. It’s one of those things that you have to put on your bucket list because it was awesome! Essentially, we took some SUVs on what was comparable to a roller coaster ride through the sand dunes. This activity is commonly referred to as dune bashing—an appropriate name. Not only was our driver as cool as a desert night the whole time, but he also fancied listening to the American Top 40 countdown with Ryan Seacrest on the radio while thoroughly voiding the warranty on his vehicle. Maybe he thought Wiz Khalifa, a popular American artist, helped him to focus on taking his driving to the next level. Or maybe he wanted to pay homage to Sheikh Khalifa, the current emir of Abu Dhabi and president of the UAE, with the music of a rapper who shares his name. Either way, it was a pretty cool drive.

We then got out and admired the dunes. Running up the dunes and feeling the sand between our toes was really fun. As the sun started to set, we found our way to a camp, where we rode some camels, watched the sunset and enjoyed dinner in the company of our new classmates. Words can’t describe how awesome it was. There are some amazing things out there in the world, and the desert safari outside of Abu Dhabi ranks pretty high up on my list of coolest things that I’ve done.

Dune bashing in the convoy

Still taking every opportunity to see the country outside of the Petroleum Institute. This past weekend the three of us went along with about two dozen other students on a desert safari. We were picked up from campus in SUVs and taken outside the scope of the city. There were about seven of us in a car, including the driver, when we proceeded to ‘dune bash’  around the desert. Some amazing driving from the tour guides provided quite a bit of fun and excitement.

Chillin' at the camp

This was followed by a trip to a remote desert camp, where we relaxed and watched the sun go down, followed by some dinner and music before heading back to campus.

It’s back to the same old stuff during the week, though. I like being on a normal schedule again. Rob and I are joining intermural basketball with some other students we met and we’re sure to have a stellar team. These weeks are flying by, with classes during the week followed by adventures on the weekend. I think we might be off to Dubai this weekend. I’ve also been talking to a grad student buddy about possibly going scuba diving soon. Who knows what lies ahead?

More from your three favorite Abu Dhabi students to come.

csanden: Might be worth it to mention now. Students now have to bring their laundry in the provided bag to building #32, the pickup/drop off location for the student laundry service. This new method replaces the old one, where laundry bags were collected from the rooms. Did I mention that the room and bathroom get cleaned every day? It’s not a bad deal here.

Using sign language, smiling and head nodding, I asked the fellows behind the counter if there were pants for 303B from a week ago.  Careful inspection of the hanging clothes produced my 13MWZ (cowboy cut) Wranglers, neatly pressed, hung and covered in plastic. “Dry cleaned!” was the cheery response of the man behind the counter, amidst lots of smiling and more head nodding. For several years now, I have been purchasing the same make, cut, style and size of jeans. And now for several months, my dry-cleaned jeans will stay on the hangar and in the plastic; it’s far too warm to wear them.

SCHOOL

It’s too early to make any comment about the difficulty of classes here. This has been add/drop week, some classes were canceled, lots of syllabi handed out, and starting to get into some content by the end of the week. Classes are small. My largest class has possibly 23 students, and my geostats class has only nine. CSM, I am a proud Oredigger, but the 150+ students in the upper-level PE classes is somewhat frustrating. Most of the students are UAE Nationals who wear traditional garb. Other students come from primarily Middle East/North Africa (MENA) countries, with a handful from others: Oman, Sudan, Egypt, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Yemen, Bangladesh, China and now, USA! 

Professors come from all over as well, with a good number from the UAE. They are identifiable by their clothing: a dishdasha with a ghutrah and ogal. Most students call the profs “doctor,” so a question-filled class sounds a bit like a press conference for a medical association. Many people have ties to Mines, by research, faculty acquaintance or previously working there.

The academic buildings are clean, close and well lit. Almost every classroom and hallway has enormous windows that let in natural light. Floors and banisters bear the same shininess that I mentioned in my previous post, although the chrome banisters have a crew of men that remove fingerprints and smudges almost immediately. Great effort has been taken to landscape around buildings and along the roads/sidewalks.

Many of you who read Robert’s last post may have come short of breath at the mention of me playing basketball for the Mines team in the 3v3 tournament. I caught the ball several times, got hit by it just once, and suffered only a single bloody nose! Read Robert’s latest post for the details. On that subject though, I have been using the rec center regularly, and Abudullah taught me how to play squash tonight. The other school activity that has been noteworthy thus far was…

DESERT SAFARI

The Adventure Club organizes camping trips, safaris and other similar events for students on a regular basis. This was my first desert safari, and I really enjoyed it. What did the desert safari entail? A fleet of six Toyota Land Cruisers (fitted with roll bars inside) picked up the 30 or so students at the Student Center and took us to the camel yard, on the way to Al Ain. I should mention that drivers here are certifiably insane on the pavement. Braking doesn’t happen until the last minute, tailgating is the norm, and the Land Cruiser I was in was cruising quite comfortably at 160+ km/h (~105 mph).

Driving on the pavement did not stir up the blood enough. While everyone gawked at and fed the camels, the drivers let some air out of the tires, and we drove around in the desert. Four wheels were on the ground most of the time, and we were level enough to see the horizon about half of the time. In layman’s terms, it was awesome.

We made a stop for a group picture and some hiking in the sand, and then pressed on some more. A couple of hours before sundown, we arrived at “camp.”  Here, we went up more dunes, had dinner, played some games, did some Arabic folk dancing and headed back.

I’m seeing Abu Dhabi (city and Emirate) on different levels. One is as a privileged PI student, going on adventures as before. Another is as a struggling tourist (spent several hours today taking the bus to, and then waiting at the Kazakh embassy for a visa). The final is as a car-less, dirham-pinching foreigner, grateful that the buses are cheap and annoyed that the wait is so long as I sit on the curb wondering if I missed my bus.

On another note, I would like to take a moment now to thank the faculty and staff at the PI who have been nothing but welcoming, helpful and great hosts.  Last-minute class and housing changes, computer troubleshooting and making sure the Americans hear about everything that’s going on… I am grateful for the warmth and hospitality that I’ve witnessed. Thanks for reading; check back soon.

After a quick night’s sleep during our first night in our comfortable accommodations on campus at the PI, the three of us took the #54 bus downtown to explore. The PI is a bit south of Abu Dhabi proper, so the bus is our link to the city. As Cliff has discussed, we visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, which was absolutely stunning. Be sure to check out the incredible photos that he posted. We also caught a glimpse of the magnificent Emirates Palace hotel. Although we weren’t allowed to go into the hotel without a room reservation, seeing the exterior made it easier to believe that the hotel has a gold-plated lobby, more than 1,000 crystal chandeliers, and a beach made out of sand fit for royalty, imported from Algeria.

Speaking of royalty, we’ve received regal treatment during our stay. Everyone has been very friendly, helpful and kind to us. All of the petroleum engineering faculty had a special welcome meeting to introduce themselves to us, the staff has been incredibly willing to make our transition to being students at the PI as smooth as possible, and I certainly couldn’t ask for anything more!

Classes are going really well so far and we’ve made friends with some great students here. We’ve also mastered taking the bus from the school to Carrefour (A Wal-Mart style store found in many countries outside the U.S.), even though the dirham coins required to pay the bus fare are a bit hard to stumble across! A few nights ago, some of our new friends took us on a walk along the Corniche, which is a boardwalk that extends along the coast with beaches and shops. With the brilliant lights of the high rise buildings behind us and the cold sand between our toes, we could see a giant flag lit up by massive spotlights waving in the distance out towards the gulf. That UAE flag is actually the largest flag in the world, and I think that it serves as a great symbol for the future of Abu Dhabi. They’re doing it big from here on out. Really big.

Finally, I should note that there is an intramural, 3v3, basketball tournament on campus tonight on the brand-new outdoor basketball court. Naturally, you can probably guess the three studs who got drafted for the Mines team. If we do well, I will be sure to post a glory picture in my next blog. If we don’t live up to the expectation that we’re good at basketball that some of the students and faculty have verbally expressed to us, then we’ll just pretend that it didn’t happen…

I’ve only had a taste of Abu Dhabi and the Emirates so far, but I can’t wait for what lies ahead this semester. Stay tuned for the details of some exciting adventures!

Ian, Robert and Clifford

Patterns on the lower columns are inlaid marble with mother of pearl (detail below). The chandeliers have thousands of Swarovski crystals in vibrant colors. The beautiful carpet took 21 months to make in Iran.

This is all inlaid marble, part of an extensive pattern on the floor. The pattern climbs up the walls...

...and also adorns most of the columns and ground in the courtyard area. It looks impressive from far off, somewhat close, and very close. Everything is clean and shiny—qualities ameliorated by everyone walking around in stocking feet

Campus is easy to walk around, and the weather is marvelous. It takes about 5 minutes to walk from the student center (SC) at one end of campus to the rec center at the other end. The SC and rec center are new, somewhat shiny, clean, and very well done. The shininess—at these buildings and many in Abu Dhabi—is due to the polished granite that clads not only the building, but the outdoor entrance area and steps.

On the walk to the rec center, I found the first hint of the desert. There’s an underpass to go the rec center, and at one end of the tunnel was a sand dune that had consumed several feet of the stop sign’s post. The sand, as you see in the pictures, is light brown, but very fine and soft. The front of the rec center has not yet been developed, and is just a sand field. It’s easy to imagine what the area was like before roads were laid and trees planted.

The campus has trees, sidewalks and lawns everywhere. In addition to the rec center, there is a basketball court (proclaiming “Home of the Falcons”) and a soccer court. All the staff I have met so far have been warm, welcoming, friendly and kind. From the security guard in our building’s lobby to the desk man in the student center, everyone has shown interest in the three Americans walking around campus!

The day before classes (Saturday, second day here), the three of us headed to town again. This time, there were two destinations: the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and the Emirates Palace, along with dinner at the Lebanese Flower. Primary transportation was again the bus. Did I mention that a bus fare is 1 AED (roughly 30 cents)? Despite its circuitous routes and long transfers, it is for this reason that I still view the bus quite favorably.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is a spectacular and magnificent mosque, completed in 2007 with a capacity of more than 40,000. You’ve really got to see it to believe it. There are tours open to the public, although we ended up hitching on the back of a private tour for a Western group from Dubai. The photos show what we saw.

Classes have started. I’m getting settled into a routine and am learning how the PI works. Expect another post soon.

Wow—only one week left. Just writing it down makes me realize I still have a lot to get done. For the time being, I’m at Mines in Golden.

Colorado School of Mines, Golden

The idea of this trip started for me around the middle of last semester, when I was talking to my lab partner, Robert Broman. He told me he was doing a semester abroad to study PE in Abu Dhabi. It didn’t occur to me at the time that I would be accompanying him and Cliff Sanden on this amazing adventure. And it didn’t take long after finding out about the trip to decide that it was something I’d be really interested in.

What appeals to me the most about this semester in Abu Dhabi is the sense of adventure of being in a new place, along with the challenges that come with it. Growing up in Massachusetts meant most of my friends went to college up and down the East Coast, but my heart was set on petroleum engineering. And when it comes to PE, look no further than Mines. Coming to Colorado without knowing anyone or what it would be like gave me quite a shock, and a lot of amazement. Going from a forest state to the sky-piercing Rocky Mountains of Colorado was quite a wonder. I’m looking forward to that same sense of wonder and curiosity when I arrive in Abu Dhabi.

I’ve been fortunate to have traveled a bit, and besides the scenery, I have always enjoyed the mix of people that I’ve met and the culture surrounding them. Having a city come out of the desert to become one of the most important metropolises in the world is fascinating to me, and I’m looking forward to interacting with the people that make up such an astounding place.

After much experience with American schooling and having been able to view drilling operations in the U.S. over field session, I’m curious to see how both are done in a different part of the world. That said, I think a common mistake among travelers is to compare where they are with where they’re from. Although I’ve read and been told about the many similarities and differences between the United Arab Emirates and the United States, what I’m looking forward to most is to be able to immerse myself completely in the UAE culture and to try to gain insight into how the average Emirati sees the world.

What I’m worried about most is the language barrier. The two very different styles of writing could make for challenging situations, and although I’ve been told that English is commonly used, I have interest in learning the language.

For the time being, I’m still in good old Golden, Colo. Seeing my friends start classes again has motivated me to make good use of the free time I have left. Besides packing and taking care of my affairs before leaving, I plan to spend most of my time enjoying the people and things that are familiar to me (and snowboarding as much as physically possible!) before embarking on what I’m sure will be the trip of a lifetime.

A couple of days before departure, Grand Teton in the background.

I’m Clifford Sanden, a junior at Colorado School of Mines studying petroleum engineering. In two days, I will fly to London and travel around Europe for 11 days. In 15 days, I will start my semester abroad at the Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

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When I tell people that I am studying abroad in Abu Dhabi, responses are usually a variation of one of the following: 1) where’s that?; 2) no way! That sounds like it will be awesome; or 3) why on God’s green earth are you going to the Middle East? My responses are: 1) Arabian Peninsula, next door to Saudi Arabia; 2) Agreed; 3) read below.

The primary goal of this trip is to understand what it means to be an American. Secondary goals include evaluating if I would like a career overseas, learning Emirati culture and history, and enjoying a semester NOT monopolized by schoolwork and long hours in the computer lab. I am a proud American—proud of our country’s extent, majesty, economy and citizens—but I also recognize that the world extends far beyond the U.S. borders.

As of 2009, 22% of the world was Muslim. Put simply, it’s important to get a glimpse into the culture and religion of 1.5 billion people on planet Earth. Of the world’s 1.4 billion barrels of proved oil reserves (double that of 1980), more than half reside patiently in the Middle East, waiting to be produced. This semester will be right in line with petroleum engineering.

Finally, carpe diem. I’m at a great point in life—no debt, no mortgage, no children, pursuing an interesting field of study at a fine school and possessing an inquisitive mind. When else will I have this sort of opportunity?

I would like to thank the numerous people at CSM, PI, and countless others who have helped build quite a network before even arriving in Abu Dhabi. Best wishes to you and yours, and I’ll let you know what it’s like when I get there!

Robert includes high-SPF sunscreen and Polo shirts in his suitcase in preparation for a semester in Abu Dhabi.

I’m Robert Broman, a junior studying petroleum engineering at Mines. In eight days, I will be flying out to Abu Dhabi to begin a study abroad semester at The Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi. Obviously, I need to pack my bags, but this blog will probably be more interesting if I discuss some of the things on my mind instead of detailing which Polos I’m taking.

Now, many people have asked me why I’m off to the PI (Petroleum Institute) for a semester. Is it because I need a break from all of the partying that I do at Mines? Is it because I want to make sand angels instead of snow angels? Or maybe it’s because I want to try out living in a carbonate depositional environment as opposed to a siliciclastic one? Of course, the answer to all of these questions is yes, but they only scratch the surface of what piques my interest about having the chance to go to school in the UAE.

I’m excited to see how petroleum engineering classes are taught at the PI and to face the challenge of performing academically in a foreign environment. Learning about the Emirati culture and making new friends also have a prodigious amount of appeal. I also can’t wait to travel around the Arabian Peninsula. I think that my desire for the challenge and adventure of living in a foreign country is what made the choice to study abroad so easy. I like seeing how other people view the world, how other countries get things done and how my views compare to those of others. I lived in London for six years while growing up, and there was never a dull day. I am confident that living in Abu Dhabi will provide me with a similar environment for adventure.

Some of my closest friends and family have expressed some concerns about me going off to study in Abu Dhabi. For example, how will I protect my skin when I’m the palest person that they know? Well, with all of the SPF 50 sunscreen I just put in my suitcase, I’m all set! What about the fact that I don’t speak a word of Arabic? My response: Isn’t that what Rosetta Stone is for? It also can’t hurt that the classes at the PI are taught in English.

Overall, I can’t wait to head over and start living in Abu Dhabi! If you don’t mind though, I had better go and put some things other than Polos and sunscreen in my suitcase.

Kevin Moore, Dean of the College of Engineering and Computational Sciences

Following discussions with faculty, the Faculty Senate, and academic department heads, a name has been chosen for Colorado School of Mines’ first college: the College of Engineering and Computational Sciences.

Composed of four departments—Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Applied Mathematics and Statistics—the college also has a new dean: Kevin Moore, G.A. Dobelman Distinguished Chair and professor of engineering. After serving as interim dean since August, Moore was officially named to the position on January 3. In addition, John McCray was recently named as head of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department after serving in the position on an interim basis during the fall semester.

For more on the formation of the college, read “New College, New Digs, Bright Future.”