Geology Graduate Student in Norway for Semester Exchange Program

Blog will Chronicle Her Experiences in the Program

Janet Kong, a Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences M.S. student, is spending the spring semester in Norway as an exchange student in the Department of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Stavanger.

Kong is the first graduate student from UH to participate in the academic exchange program established in 2012 between UH and University of Stavanger. A major seaport on the North Sea, Stavanger is the “oil capital of Norway” and has world-renowned programs in petroleum engineering and petroleum geology.

The UH exchange program includes all departments and is also attracting interested students from UH’s Department of Petroleum Engineering.

“Coming to the University of Stavanger in Norway is an incredible opportunity. The university offers a wide variety of courses and networking opportunities, especially for students who are interested in working in the petroleum industry,” said Kong, who is working at UH on Antarctic glacial history with assistant professor Julia Wellner. Scheduled to graduate in the spring 2017, Kong hopes to work in the oil industry after graduation.

She is contributing a blog of her experiences in Norway.

“I never imagined that I would be lucky enough to get an opportunity to study abroad somewhere like this as a grad student,” Kong said.

Three previous EAS graduate students, also working with Wellner on Antarctic glacial history, participated in a parallel exchange program – a summer, Arctic field geology program between UH and the University Centre of Svalbard, the northernmost higher education institution located at latitude 78 north.

Since 2012, EAS has hosted a series of University of Stavanger graduate students in the exchange program.