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Even before coming to be in 1966, energy engineering was a major focus at the University of Calgary.

An engineering division was first launched three years earlier at what was then the University of Alberta at Calgary, with a complex housing chemical, civil, electrical and mechanical engineering facilities. All had a major tie with the burgeoning local energy industry — particularly oil and gas.

Dr. A.M. Neville, PhD, Hon. LLD'11, first dean of the Faculty of Engineering (now ), was adamant about producing first-class engineers who had a strong sense of foundational knowledge with an ability to adapt to changing times.

“We want our engineers to have a good general education so they have a proper understanding of social trends and of the role of science and engineering in the modern society,” he told the Calgary Herald in March 1965. “In this aim, we seek, of course, the cooperation of appropriate departments in the faculty of arts and science.”

UCalgary graduated its first 85 engineering students in 1969, as the Herald reported that air and water pollution, as well as the economic transportation of liquified natural gases, were two of the main topics of UCalgary research.

Making a breakthrough

It didn’t take long for UCalgary to make an impact on the energy landscape.

The provincial government created the Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority in 1974 with the goal of funding research to make the province’s oilsands economically feasible. Many projects benefited from the investment, including work led by UCalgary’s Dr. Roger Butler, PhD, as he developed the game-changing Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (or SAGD) process.

Looking to change the way that heavy crude oil and bitumen were extracted, he created the process of injecting a high-pressure steam into oil to heat it and reduce its viscosity and make it easier to be pumped out. Butler originally tried the concept at Cold Lake and in Saskatchewan, then patented the concept in 1969 before moving to Calgary to lead heavy-oil research at Imperial Oil in 1975.

He became the first endowed chair at UCalgary — the CIM Petroleum Society Chair in Petroleum Engineering — with the goal of refining the process to unlock billions of barrels of oil that couldn’t have been accessible otherwise. It’s a system still used around the world to this day.

From all corners of UCalgary

UCalgary continues to take a multidisciplinary approach to energy.

For example, , PhD, in the , has been developing new well-testing technology that has been accepted as an option by the and the .

The process, , obtains key information like pressure to determine how much oil or gas is in a reservoir in a matter of hours instead of the days, weeks or even months it takes with standard tests.

“It’s exciting for us because I don’t think it’s common for a university-developed oilfield technology to get adopted by the regulator,” Clarkson says.

He says it’s also attractive to operators as they can do the tests in a shorter time frame and it doesn’t disrupt their operations, adding they will be able to do more testing, have more data and make better decisions.

Meanwhile, the is constantly providing expertise on energy and environmental law and policy in an ever-changing political landscape.

The field has evolved to include issues such as energy security, environmental protection, decarbonization, protection of Indigenous rights and human rights, says the Institute’s chair, , LLM’00.

“For me, the biggest challenge we face today when it comes to the world of energy law is grappling with all of these intersections,” she says. “We know that they must all be considered, but how do we ensure the correct balance and when do we know we are doing it right?”

Nikolaou says she is proud of the work being done at the Institute and the global impact it has achieved, adding there is no other organization in Canada like it with faculty members, international research fellows, and engaged graduate and law students providing important and viable solutions to the critical issues facing energy development today.

Bringing history and future together

From its early research in heavy oil and bitumen oilsands reservoirs, to its present-day transdisciplinary work, energy is embedded into the fabric of UCalgary, as it strives to enable and support safe, clean, secure, socially responsible and affordable energy supplies for the world. This is the vision of the university’s 2023 energy research strategy, .

The strategy ties together the university’s rich history with where we need to go in the future, says , BSc (Eng)’90, PhD, UCalgary’s associate vice-president (research).

“We have researchers actively working in every aspect of energy,” says Gates, a professor in the at the Schulich school. “It’s an exciting place to work with respect to energy, given the industry we have here, a government that is supportive of the energy industry, and a university with the momentum we have in energy research.”

He says UCalgary is not only churning out impactful research and development ideas, but also a future workforce the industry is happy to have.

As examples, Gates says the Faculty of Science developed a new Energy Science major with a focus on providing a strong foundation in all forms of energy, while Schulich launched a new Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage Specialization for current workers in industry to build on their skillset in an area that needs people today.

Gates has a motto with his research group that captures the essence of all involved: “Save money, make money, save the environment, and save lives.”

Making a positive impact

With more than 300 scholars from a variety of disciplines working in energy, UCalgary has positioned itself as a global leader in everything from engineering and science to public policy and law, and has become a destination for other leaders in the field.

Among those scholars is , PhD’80.

A PhD student in chemical engineering in 1976, after an outstanding academic career in India and Thailand, he and his wife fell in love with Calgary immediately. More than that, Mehrotra was enamoured with being in the energy capital of Canada.

“The Calgary oil patch was enjoying a boom, and hydrocarbon properties and processing were among my research interests,” he says. “There were many professors in the department who were carrying out exciting experimental and theoretical research, as well as entrepreneurial and consulting activities in the area.”

Now into his 46th year with the Schulich school, Mehrotra served as its interim dean in 2010-2011, was the founding director of the , and is a former director of the program.

Mehrotra says industry and geopolitical climates evolve, but what won’t change is the university’s drive to make a positive impact. He says it’s the impact on students and the industry that mean the most to him. 

“I have supervised many graduate students who are doing very well in their own professional careers today and have added to our knowledge base by publishing my research findings extensively,” he says. “I feel most proud and honoured to be a member of the UCalgary family.”