Corey Dimond (BS Geology, 2008)

I am currently working as a geologist in the Permian Basin team for Chesapeake Energy. I am responsible for drilling operations in Eddy and Lea Counties in SE New Mexico in which we are currently targeting the Avalon Shale and First and Second Bone Spring Sands for our horizontal well targets. My job duties include the geosteering of wells, correlating electic well logs to describe lithology and petrophysical characteristics, creating contour maps of formations and lithology packages, and determining drilling locations based on regional subsurface mapping. I stay very busy but I am learning a lot and I really like what I do.

I finished my master's degree last January at New Mexico State University before making the move to Oklahoma. My thesis dealt with correlating isotopic signatures and major and trace element compositions of melt inclusions in quartz crystals with crystallization temperatures of the same crystals. Nothing to do with oil whatsoever, but very cool nonetheless. I must say that I do miss geochemistry and volcanic rocks though.

I also miss and think about Ellensburg from time to time. The Cascades, the good beer, and the great city of Ellensburg will never be forgotten. I hope to move back to the Pacific Northwest some day. And to think that this adventure that I have been on since I graduated from CWU in 2008, started with a geology class taught by Nick Zentner. I am very lucky to have studied geology at CWU! An amazing faculty and an amazing program!

(Picture taken near Cusco, Peru)