UAF Student Kasper Kowaleski was the third place poster competition award winner at the recent 2008 American Association of Drilling Engineers (AADE) Premier Fluids Conference in Houston, Texas, for his poster titled "Optimized Hole Cleaning in Extended Reach Drilled Wells". He was the only undergraduate student to participate and compete in a division of combined baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral majors, that included eleven competitors from six universities across the nation.

Due to the wonderful performance by Kasper, there has been a recommendation for the AADE to consider creating a separate undergraduate poster competition, to encourage more undergraduate students to actively participate in the Society. Kasper received assistance from UAF's Center for Research Services in the form of a travel grant award, to be able to attend the conference.