Sylla was one of about 30 students who participated in the externship program through the Irani center over the summer. Through that program, students spent their summer in Norman, working out of the Sarkey's Energy Center, but working with local oil and natural gas companies.
She also is one of about 60 students signed up to participate in the Irani Center's expanded program this fall. During the school year, participants will work in groups with students from different energy-related disciplines to solve problems with and for local oil and natural gas companies.
"This is where a geologist gets to work with a petroleum engineer, a geologist and a land manager," Stice said. "We tend to stovepipe them as petroleum engineers though most of their education, but here we take them out of that environment and make them work together, allowing them to develop a multidisciplinary experience.
"It's about collaboration. That's the way the industry works, but in higher education, we tend to put them in a classroom only with petroleum engineers."