Chemical Engineering students win ExxonMobil Engineering Challenge 2009

At the end of September a team of Bath Chemical Engineering students beat participants from Exeter, Cambridge, Imperial, Nottingham, Surrey, Loughborough and Birmingham to win first place in this year’s ExxonMobil Engineering Challenge (south). Tom Kolaczkowski, Zoe Wood, and Lars Lückoff, who are now in their second year, were awarded first prize and brought home £500 for the Chemical Engineering Students Association (CESA), as well as a trophy and a cuddly ExxonMobil tiger!

ExxonMobil use the 3 day event as a way to introduce students to the company, through a series of fun activities, a site tour of the Fawley Refinery, and a series of company presentations. Company management staff, recent graduate engineers, and current placement students also attend the event to share their experiences of life with the company, and to answer questions about graduate and placement opportunities, training and development, day to day job responsibilities, career progression etc. The aim is to provide a relaxed environment where students from ExxonMobil’s target universities who are interested in the energy industry can start to build contacts with the company. It is a great way for students to gain an understanding of the industry and ExxonMobil as an employer whilst at the same time having fun!

Lars, Tom and Zoe commented on their experience: “ Along with teams of students from other universities we had the opportunity to try out several activities including water sports, skiing, track cycling and rock climbing. However, it was not only about having a good time. ExxonMobil representatives and activity leaders assessed our performance as a team (e.g. on an orienteering trip in the New Forest) and evaluated our interpersonal skills and motivation during the activities. We also had the chance to gain an insight into ExxonMobil and what they offer, through meeting employees and managers of the Fawley Refinery. We had a great time, learned a lot about the company, and are very proud to have won the ExxonMobil Challenge for Bath!”

ExxonMobil Corporation is an industry leader in almost every aspect of the energy and petrochemical business. They operate facilities or market products in most of the world’s countries and explore for oil and natural gas on six continents. ExxonMobil Corporation is the parent company of the Esso, Mobil and ExxonMobil companies that operate in the UK. Their customers are both global and local, ranging from major airlines to the million customers a day who visit their UK service stations. As a global energy company, they have a range of opportunities across all areas for graduates, industrial placements and for summer placements.

" This is a brilliant result for the Bath team. The training and experience that they will have gained from competing in this competition will be invaluable to their studies and future employment. It is also very satisfying for the Bath team to come out top of this group of excellent chemical engineering departments.", said Professor Julian Chaurdhuri, Head of Department.