Former ACEP Intern Tells of Success after Internship

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 .

 

Josh Miller is a former ACEP Intern. Photo by Amanda Byrd/ACEP.