OREANDA-NEWS. February 04, 2015. BP today announced the campus team winners of the 2015 US Ultimate Field Trip (UFT), an annual competition that asks university students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics(STEM) fields to solve a real-world global energy challenge.

The winning teams, from seven top universities across the country, will now advance to the national finals at BP’s US headquarters in Houston in April. 

The campus team winners are: Aquasolve from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Aquam Inc from Pennsylvania State University; Owls from Rice University; The Maroon COG from Texas A&M University; TEAMILLINI from the University of Illinois – Urbana – Champaign; Blastoise from the University of Oklahoma; and Roden Analytics from the University of Texas. 

Now in its third year in the US, the UFT competition is one of the many ways BP works with universities to support STEM education initiatives and provides students with opportunities to explore energy industry careers. 

“BP believes that addressing America’s energy challenges requires long-term partnerships between the private sector and leading educational and scientific institutions,” said Khymberly Booth, US university relations director for BP. “The UFT has proven to be a fun and effective way to do just that.”

Participants in the 2015 contest were asked to identify and develop a novel technical solution to reduce the amount of water used and find an effective use for water produced by drilling operations.

The grand prize winner of the US competition will join the winning teams from Ultimate Field Competition contests in the UK, Canada and Angola on a two-week field trip to BP’s natural gas operations in Trinidad and Tobago.