Nomination Deadlines

International Awards
15 February

Regional Awards
1 March

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Lester C. Uren Award for Technical Excellence

The Lester C. Uren Award for Technical Excellence recognizes distinguished achievement in the technology of petroleum engineering.

About Lester C. Uren

Lester C. Uren was an author, researcher, and educator at the University of California for more than 40 years. He wrote the first petroleum-engineering textbook in 1924 and founded the first curriculum for petroleum engineering in 1915. His wide recognition as a leader in petroleum engineering education is seen by the fact that schools not only in the US and Canada, but also in Europe and South America, sent students to finish or undertake graduate work under Professor Uren. He combined the theoretical and practical aspects of petroleum engineering in such a manner that his method became a trademark during his long teaching career.

He spent summers in the oil fields of California to familiarize himself with the practical working conditions of the engineer. Uren was not content to confine himself to the academic world, but demonstrated a remarkable spirit in putting the results of investigations and discussions based on both field and university work before active engineers. Professor Uren’s research activities were basic to the understanding of the science of petroleum engineering. He published more than160 articles on research, engineering applications, economics, and education in the field. An amplification of his petroleum-engineering handbook, now three volumes, is used as a standard reference work in most petroleum schools and oil companies.

The Lester C. Uren Award for Technical Excellence, established in 1963, recognizes distinguished achievement in the technology of petroleum engineering by a member who made the contribution before age 45. The candidate must be a living member of SPE.

View past recipients.

Eligibility Requirements

The conditions of eligibility are as follows:

  • The candidate chosen for the award must be a professional member of SPE in good standing.
  • The candidate must have been under 45 years of age when the work being recognized was completed.
  • Deceased members may not be nominated for SPE Awards. If a previously nominated candidate dies after 1 January in the year of presentation, and if duly selected for the award, the presentation shall be made posthumously in accordance with special procedures to be prescribed by the SPE Board of Directors. Posthumous award presentations are otherwise prohibited.
  • No candidate shall be awarded the Lester C. Uren Award for Technical Excellence solely on the basis of the technical achievement for which he or she received the SPE Completions Optimization and Technology Award, Drilling Engineering Award (formerly Drilling and Completions); Management and Information (formerly Economics and Evaluation); Health, Safety, and Environment (formerly Health, Safety, Security, Environment and Social Responsibility Award), Formation Evaluation Award; Production and Operations Award (formerly Production),or Reservoir Description and Dynamics Award (formerly Reservoir Engineering). However, that the recipient of such awards shall not preclude a candidate's receiving the Uren Award and may, in fact, be included in a candidate's dossier to augment other achievements in, or contributions to, petroleum engineering.
  • The award may only be presented to an individual for truly outstanding achievement.
  • Past recipients of the award are ineligible to receive it a second time.
  • The winner of the Uren Award shall be ineligible for the Lucas Medal or Carll Award for a period of five years.  If nominated for the other awards, nominators will be informed as to the ineligibility of the candidate. Additionally, the nominators will be required to resubmit the nominations with updated materials covering the intervening five years.
  • No recipient of the SPE Honorary Member Award shall be eligible to receive the award.
  • No officer or member of the International Board of Directors of the Society shall be eligible to receive any award while serving on the Board. In addition, he or she will not be eligible to receive any award during the calendar year in which his or her term ends, and for a period of two full calendar years following the expiration of his or her term of service on the Board.
  • No member of the Award Selection Committee shall be eligible to receive the award while serving as a member of the award committee in which they are judging, and for a period of two full calendar years following the expiration of his or her term of service on the committee.
  • The award may only be presented to an individual for truly outstanding achievement.
  • Self-nominated candidates are not eligible.
  • Past recipients of the award are ineligible to receive it a second time.


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