Page 13 - Florida Sentinel 3-31-17

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FLORIDA SENTINEL
FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 2017
Jamal Cherry, an employee of ConocoPhillips Company, is currently working and living in Anchorage, Alaska.
Dr. Cherry said he earned an academic scholarship to Cornell Univer- sity, where he was a Civil Engineering major. After returning from Ghana, he continued on his career path, but applied for energy-focused intern- ships. After graduating, he earned an academic scholarship to the graduate program at Stanford University’s School of Earth, Energy, & Environmental Sciences. He also earned his Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Stanford in 2016.
It was at Stanford, he met Louis Durlofsky, an Energy Resources En- gineer Professor. Under his guidance, Cherry said, “I think working with him enhanced my professionalism and has influenced my mindset in the way I approach problems.”
He wanted to create “computational optimization,” which is the use of computers to make oil and gas drilling more efficient.
Cherry and Durlofsky developed a program using the computational theory. They expanded research on an existing program by a former stu- dent.
“The surrogate models give very similar answers to the full-physics models, but they take only seconds to run instead of many minutes or hours. That enables the optimizations to run much faster,” Durlofsky said.
One thing Cherry had to adjust to was the difference in climate, going from sunny Tampa to freezing Alaska. Concerning the weather, he said, “The cold weather has definitely taken some getting used to, but I’ve really embraced the outdoors since moving to Alaska by going on hikes, fishing, and getting into trap shooting,” Cherry said. “The thing I’ve liked the most so far has been how friendly everyone is. It seems like most people here are, or have been, transplants at some point, so they don’t hesitate to take you out on hikes or show you around the area.”
He believes that, “Renewables are the future, but we can’t forget about oil and gas, because right now, it’s still an important part of the energy equation.
“For my lifetime, I still see oil and gas being important for maintaining our standard of living, both here and in developing countries.”
While the world is shifting slowly to renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind, Cherry still sees a need for people with his particular skill set.
His mother was out of town working and unable to share comments about her son.
Self-Motivated Engineer Realizes Importance
Of Energy
Jamal Cherry has always been self-motivated academically, his father said. And that motivation has landed the young man in a place where he wants to be to pursue a career in energy.
In fact, Dr. Glenn Cherry said, “My wife and I are very proud of him. But, he is the kind of kid that has always been motivated academically to do just what he is doing now. I can’t take much credit for that. His mother (Dr. Valerie Cherry) played an important role, but it’s all him.”
A longtime resident of Tampa, Cherry currently serves as a Rig Engineer at the ConocoPhillips Company in Anchorage, Alaska. He works 12 hours or more for 2 weeks and he’s off for 2 weeks. It takes him nearly 2 hours to his worksite from Anchorage.
“My current job function is within the drilling group as a rig engineer. Some of my day-to-day tasks include drafting detailed plans and procedures for daily rig operations; running and updating computer models; and troubleshooting and making on-the-fly adjustments, because we typically function under a great deal of operational uncer- tainty.”
The new position is just what he was looking for. “I was searching for a unique, chal- lenging, and dynamic experience, and it’s been all three. The job is extremely hands- on and has given me great exposure to the complexity of drilling operations,” he said.
Prior to being chosen as one of two students hired by the company, Cherry had vis- ited Ghana, serving a 7-week internship for a utility company. He was a sophomore at the time, but the visit changed his career path. He witnessed, first-hand, the importance of energy.
“You could look on one side of the street and see office buildings, and on the other side, there would be people living in makeshift housing without power. I realized how important energy is to providing a reasonable standard of living, and seeing the dis- parity in Ghana, was an eye-opening experience,” he said.
Realizing the importance of doing your best, Cherry earned a scholarship to Tampa Preparatory High School by scoring the highest grade on the examination. During his tenure at the school, he also played basketball. He was also a member of the Greater Tampa Chapter of Jack & Jill, Inc.
Professor Louis Durlofsky, left, and Jamal Cherry developed an energy program together.