In-Situ Geosciences, Imperial Oil, Calgary AB

ExxonMobil Mississippi River Field School.

I grew up in a small, rural community approximately 3.5 hours north of Brandon. I arrived at university in the fall of 2003, undecided on a future career path, and enrolled in nine Arts classes with an elective in geology. Through that class, I gained exposure to the diverse opportunities a career in geoscience could provide and it seemed like a natural fit given my passion for nature and the outdoors. By second year, I‘d switched over to a full course-load of geoscience classes and also lined-up a summer job exploring for minerals near Great Bear Lake, NWT. Throughout my time at Brandon University, I always appreciated the smaller class sizes that allowed students and instructors to develop more meaningful relationships. This tight-knit network within the department also became a valuable asset during later job searches.

I graduated in 2008 with a B.Sc. Honours degree in Geology and spent the summer working in mineral exploration before shifting my focus to Oil & Gas. I began working as a wellsite geologist in SW Manitoba and continued until 2010, when I was accepted into a M.Sc. program at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC. In 2013, after completing my Master’s Thesis, I received a full-time job offer from Imperial Oil in Calgary, AB. Over the past 9 years I’ve worked in a variety of Exploration, Development and Production roles focused predominantly on heavy-oil assets. One of the things I enjoy most about my job is using multiple datasets to make subsurface interpretations that address real-world challenges.