From a farm in Fairmont to an oil field in Kazakhstan

Alumni Series Where are they now?: Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering alumnus Bevin VanGilder

Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Being a problem-solver came naturally to Fairmont native Bevin VanGilder. 

“As a child, you could often find me alongside my dad, tinkering in the garage or on the farm,” said VanGilder. “I loved watching him fix things: his sketches and measurements, the care that he took with his tools and equipment, his ingenuity and his ability to find practical solutions to a problem.   

“My mom is an amazing teacher who inspired my love of learning. She is also a fantastic problem-solver, with tremendous organizational and planning capabilities. We joke that our favorite thing to do is make lists! While neither of my parents were engineers, I think my love of problem-solving came from their influence, which naturally led me into engineering.” 

An internship at NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation Fairmont facility during high school led her to WVU, where she planned to major in mechanical and aerospace engineering. But a first-year course taught by Shahab Mohaghegh, professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering, and some coaxing by Department Chair Sam Ameri led her to change majors. 

“After interning with Chevron as a reservoir engineer in Bakersfield, California, the summer after my sophomore year, I knew I made the right decision,” VanGilder said. “The ability to work on complex problems using state-of-the-art technology with so many opportunities around the world was the perfect fit for me.” 

That first internship led to a second and ultimately to a 16-year career with Chevron that has taken her from California to Louisiana to Angola to Kazakhstan. 

“In 2012, I accepted my first international assignment based in Malongo, Angola, as the production engineering team lead, where I supervised and mentored our production engineering team,” VanGilder said. “After a stint at Chevron’s headquarters in California working in corporate strategic planning, I moved to Tengizchevroil (a joint venture between Chevron, ExxonMobil, KazMunayGas and LukArco) in Tengiz, Kazakhstan. Since joining TCO, I have worked as the operational excellence/health, environment and safety advisor; the fatality prevention project manager; and now as the Future Growth Project-Wellhead Pressure Management Project productivity manager.” 

The Tengiz Field is the world’s deepest producing supergiant oil field and the largest single-trap producing reservoir in existence. FGP-WPMP is designed to increase total daily production from the Tengiz reservoir and maximize the ultimate recovery of resources.   

“As the productivity manager,” VanGilder said, “my organization’s goal is to make our contractors successful by enabling them to safely execute ‘the right work, at the right moment, the right way.’” 

VanGilder is quick to credit her mentors from WVU who have helped shape her career over the years. 

“I was lucky enough to have four fantastic mentors: PNGE Department Chair Sam Ameri, Shahab Mohaghegh, Kashy Aminian and Ilkin Bilgesu. I am forever grateful for the guidance and the personal care they showed me,” VanGilder said. “Each brought their own area of expertise and skillsets, and I was able to learn so much from them. Their dedication to their students continues to inspire me and is evident in the caliber of students I meet as I visit WVU as a recruiter for Chevron. It is also an honor to serve on the WVU PNGE Visiting Committee, ensuring that students have the skills needed to be marketable in the industry.” 

“I consider it a pleasure to have been able to recruit excellent and talented individuals like Bevin into our department during the time I was representing petroleum engineering in the freshman engineering program,” said Mohaghegh. “She was a great student and ended up being a fantastic engineer for Chevron. This fact did not surprise me at all. This was exactly what I expected from her. I am glad that the people at Chevron were smart enough to realize this fact and take good advantage of her incredible talent and enthusiasm.” 

Ameri concurred, noting, “In all of my interactions with Bevin, I observed her integrity, honesty, conscientiousness, high standard of ethics, dedication to hard work, academic excellence, eagerness to learn and tremendous pride in her accomplishments. She was a student that educators like me always remember and hold in the highest regard. She also displayed a sense of humility about herself, and a timely sense of humor that I appreciated tremendously. I knew in those very early years of her education that she was going places, that she would be a future leader of our industry. She has proven me very right.” 

“The best advice I can give to students is to be proactive,” VanGilder said. “Your success in your career and in life is your responsibility. To do so requires you to put in the time and effort. Seek out additional opportunities. Get actively involved in student organizations. Begin developing your leadership and communication skills. Seek out internships, especially if they give you field experience. Don’t be afraid to get dirty. Spend as much time as you can out in the field with those that are using the equipment that you will be designing. Show them the utmost respect – they have earned it – and learn as much as you can from them. You will be humbled by their knowledge and be a much better engineer for your time spent with them.” 

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