NEWS RELEASE

MMS Supports Diversity Through Scholarships and Internships

NEW ORLEANS - Minerals Management Service is searching for the next generation of engineers by sponsoring Fort Valley State University’s Cooperative Development Energy Program, http://www.fvsu.edu/cdep.asp?mnu=sub2&Prm=57, through a cooperative agreement established in 2002.  FVSU is in Fort Valley, Georgia.  The CDEP program recruits, educates, and graduates academically talented minorities and women in the fields of geosciences, engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and biology.

MMS has provided $200,000 to fund college scholarships and the Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Academy over the past two years.  MSEA is a pre-college program offered to selected middle and high school students from across the nation who are excelling in math and science.

In addition, MMS through the FVSU-sponsored Energy Career Day has selected academically talented students to participate in the summer intern program.  These summer interns, working in the MMS Gulf of Mexico Regional Office in New Orleans, take part in assignments that will allow them to travel offshore to inspect pipeline installations, modifications and repairs; review and analyze pipeline damage reports resulting from hurricanes, conduct geologic studies to ensure proper development of hydrocarbon bearing reservoirs; evaluate and determine root causes and solutions to pollution from synthetic base mud discharges, and much more.

The MMS office in New Orleans employed three CDEP interns in the summer of 2004 and expects to employ four in 2005.  According to MMS Gulf of Mexico Regional Director Chris Oynes, “MMS is pleased to support CDEP.  This partnership offers our organization the opportunity to develop talented individuals who will be able to make significant contributions to the nation's energy industry.  We found the interns to be top notch students who contributed greatly during their period with us, and we see them as having great potential for the future.”

Since 1984, CDEP has graduated 40 engineers, 18 geoscientists, and 4 health physicists.  Many of the CDEP graduates are now making their mark in various energy companies and government agencies.

MMS, part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, oversees 1.76 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf, managing offshore energy and minerals while protecting the human, marine, and coastal environments through advanced science and technology research.  The OCS provides 30 percent of oil and 23 percent of natural gas produced domestically, and sand used for coastal restoration. MMS collects, accounts for, and disburses mineral revenues from Federal and American Indian lands, with Fiscal Year 2004 disbursements of approximately $8 billion and more than $143 billion since 1982.  The Land and Water Conservation Fund, which pays for cooperative conservation, grants to states, and Federal land acquisition, gets nearly $1 billion a year.

MMS Main Website:  www.mms.gov

***MMS:  Securing Ocean Energy and Economic Value for America***