Former ACEP Intern Tells of Success after Internship
Josh Miller returned to UAF last week recruiting students to intern with BP. Miller
says it was through an internship with ACEP in 2012 that he is where he is today.
Miller recounted that when he came to UAF in 2011 to start a master's degree in geology,
within the year he was asked to intern with ACEP as a wellsite geologist on a geothermal
development project at Pilgrim Hot Springs 60 miles outside of Nome.
During the internship, Miller’s job was helping select drilling target areas around
the hot spring reservoir to pinpoint where the hot water was coming from in the hopes
of a future utility development to generate power for Nome. The work conducted during
the internship became the topic of Miller’s master’s thesis.
Miller says that he owes a lot of his success in landing a job at BP to his ACEP internship.
The year before his internship with ACEP, he had applied to BP but was turned down
for an interview.
“I completed my internship with ACEP in 2012, I now had all of this experience as
a wellsite geologist, and I reapplied to BP. The experience looked good on my resume
and made me stand out. I was selected for an internship the following summer with
BP.”
Miller says his ACEP internship was immensely rewarding, especially his role as the
wellsite geologist who has the crucial role of saying where to drill. He gained confidence
and empowerment when the project team trusted him to accomplish his tasks.
Miller said of his internship, “You may not know ahead of time what the job will require
or what you’ll be doing, but it’s well worth the time and effort for the experience
that you will get out of it.”
Miller now works full-time as a production geologist for BP, and he now drills wells
on the North Slope.
“I now work with wellsite geologists and we speak the same language. It’s a different
job to what I did at Pilgrim Hot Springs, but I use the skills that I developed during
my internship with ACEP,” Miller said.
ACEP is seeking 2019 summer interns. Find out more and apply here.