Associate Professor Gasham Zeynalov, Head of the Department of Oil Engineering at Khazar University, has been elected to serve as a member of Education and Accreditation Committee at the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) for the duration of 3 years, being offered on behalf of the SPE Board of Directors, by Shauna Noonan, President of SPE (President for 2020, SPE President). This committee consists of 12 members. Six of them are experienced professionals working in the oil industry for a quite long time, six others are academicians and petroleum engineering educators, holding full-time faculty positions at an accredited engineering University, offering an accredited petroleum engineering or natural gas programs.

Committee Meetings are held annually at the SPE Conferences. The first meeting will take place on September 29, 2019 during the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, in Calgary, Canada.

The functions of the Education and Accreditation Committee are as follows:

1. Evaluates the curriculum of petroleum engineering and make recommendations so that it is consistent with the needs of the petroleum industry;
2. Report with the recommendations to the SPE Board of Directors on the Accreditation of Oil & Gas Engineering Education Programs;
3. Reports with recommendations, to the society and the Board on all publications, recommendations, and studies by ABET, ASEE, or any other related engineering groups that directly or indirectly affect petroleum engineering education, including interfacing with NCEES on the FE Exam;
4. ABET approves a list of qualifying appraisers for approval of ABET's oil and gas engineering program in October each year. The qualification for the appraisers is determined by ABET. Additional qualifications can be determined by the committee;
5. At the recommendation of the Chairman of the Committee, takes part in other types of activities in the development of oil and gas engineering education;
6. Implements and monitors policy program for oil engineering teachers and cooperates with other engineering and scientific organizations in solving quality and assurance issues related to other engineering educators and students;
7. Gives suggestions to the newly elected President on the selection of new members of the Committee, including the election of a new Chairman.