Josie Hastings (2024) 

For Senior and Henderson, Nevada native Josie Hastings, New Mexico Tech was not on her radar until attending a college fair at her local high school. With a passion for chemistry, she originally aspired to study Chemical Engineering, but a mini online course with the Petroleum Engineering department in her Junior year of high school sparked her interest and love of the subject. “I got to learn from different professors and alumni and talk with them about the program. I liked the aspect of fieldwork because I did not want to always be inside a lab. I wanted to be able to apply my knowledge practically and get out of the office. I also fell in love with geology and decided to add that as my minor.” Josie has stuck with her same area of study during her time at Tech and will soon graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering and a minor in Petroleum Geology. 

She dove headfirst into her coursework at Tech, beginning a research project in her first semester. By her second semester, she was working on a geothermal plugging and abandonment project. “I love that Tech is a smaller school with opportunities to begin research and work with professors right away. That is incredibly rare at other, larger schools.” Her love of Petroleum Engineering and research continued on through her senior design project, which consisted of a full comprehensive design of a Class VI well, including economics analysis.

When she wasn’t busy with classes, Josie spent her time interning for the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, and the Petroleum Recovery Research Center (PRRC) where she worked on the CarbonSAFE project and analyzing well logs. She was also the President of the NMT Student Chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Treasurer of the American Association of Drilling Engineers, as well as a member of the Golf Club and Martial Arts Club, through which she continued her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training. While President of SPE, Josie organized an out-of-town conference to San Antonio, Texas, complete with different lectures and presentations, which allowed current students to learn from and network with professionals in the Petroleum field. She also helped bring back the annual Chen Classic Golf Tournament after nearly five years.

Josie cites William Ampomah, Ph.D., Luke Martin, and Ryan Leary, Ph.D. as the major influences in her education. “Dr. Ampomah was crucial with my senior design project and in helping us design a well for carbon sequestration. He is a great professor who is always willing to work with students to make sure they understand what he’s teaching. Luke Martin was my boss at the Bureau of Geology. I look to him as a mentor and advisor. He was incredibly patient and always took the time to ensure I understood what I was doing and the value of what I was doing. Dr. Leary was my Geology professor and minor advisor. He has a passion for teaching and it shines through; he is the professor who sparked my interest in Geology.”     

When asked her advice for high school students considering attending Tech or following a path in STEM, she says “Put in the hard work. It gets difficult at times but keep persevering, do your work, and talk to your professors - they want to help you succeed.”

After Josie graduates later this month, she is heading straight to Midland, Texas for an engineering internship working with reservoir engineers at Endeavor Energy Resources. She wishes to thank her family, Dr. Ampomah, Luke Martin, Dr. Leary, and the entire Petroleum Engineering Department for their unwavering support during her three years at Tech. We will miss Josie, but know she will do great things in her field after she graduates!