H. Ray Taber Drill Seminar Provides Scholarships and Hands-on Learning
As a sponsor of the annual H. Ray Taber Foundation Drill Seminar, Kleinfelder staff from the Sacramento and Bay Area offices participated in the educational event for graduate and undergraduate civil engineering and geology students. Often referred to as a “day of discovery and learning” by the H. Ray Taber Foundation, the free field seminar provides future AEC industry leaders with a unique forum for asking questions, getting answers, and having a hands-on experience with the field equipment and testing and logging protocols that have become the fundamental data gathering tools of geoscience practices.
With the event organized into four stations, students rotated among three learning experiences and a career fair. Stations one (auger), two (mud-rotary), and three (CPT rid and geophysics) included rigs, drill crews, and industry professionals providing 30-minute overviews on everything from safety and pre-field coordination to site access, sampling considerations, and important field observations.
At the fourth station – the career fair – sponsors talked about their companies and shared potential career opportunities. In addition, presenters discussed their early career stories and provided attendees with advice for entering and succeeding in the industry. Kleinfelder staff Liana Serrano, Meredith Beswick, and Kimberly Brown presented on their own unique career stories and stressed the importance of working towards licensure and using professional societies to expand industry knowledge and professional networks. After each sponsor spoke, attendees visited sponsors’ booths to ask questions and learn more from the presenters.
“I have attended the Taber Drill Seminar for the past five years, and I am always happy to be a part of an event that has so many benefits to early career professionals and the geo-community,” commented Senior Engineer/Geologist Meredith Beswick. “My favorite part is meeting attendees as students and then meeting them later in their career to see how far they have come. It’s definitely an event I will want to be a part of for years to come.”
Company sponsorships from the event directly benefit the local community, funding scholarships for students pursuing engineering and science degrees at local and regional colleges and universities.
