UPG Celebrates Scientific Performance
At the Petroleum-Gas University (PGU) of Ploiesti, a festive and touching ceremony was held to award the title of professor emeritus to personalities loved and respected by the entire academic community of the university. Distinctions awarded in homage to scientific achievement, effort, dedication, moral probity, were presented to the teachers: Ph.D. Prof. Eng. Niculae Napoleon Antonescu – Honorary Rector, Ph.D. Prof. Eng. Lazar Avram, Ph.D. Prof. Eng. Ion Bolocan, Ph.D. Prof. Ec. Cornel Constantin Lazar and Ph.D. Assoc. Prof. Mathn. Cristian Marinoiu.
Prof. Niculae Napoleon Antonescu has had a successful academic career, so that after obtaining the title of ‘Mechanical Petroleum Engineer’ in 1957, and that of ‘Doctor of Engineering’ in 1970, he has climbed all university leadership positions, starting from member of the Council of the Faculty of Petroleum Equipment (1965-2004), member of the Senate and of the Executive Board of Directors (1968-2004), Dean of the Faculty of Petroleum Machinery – currently the Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (1972-1979), Prorector of the Institute of Oil and Gas Ploiesti – currently the Petroleum-Gas University (PGU) of Ploiesti (1979-1987), Head of Department at the Department of Technology of Petroleum Machinery Construction (1990-1992), Rector of PGU (1996-2004) and ending with the position of Honorary Rector of PGU (2005-present). In addition to these university leadership positions, Prof. Antonescu is a founding member of the National Council of Rectors (since 1996), was a Member of the Romanian Parliament (1996-2004) and has held and holds a number of high positions in various national associations and councils, such as Honorary Member of the Romanian National Committee for the World Energy Council (RNC-WEC). His outstanding merits have been recognized by a series of national and international distinctions such as the Order of the ‘Star of Romania’ in the Grade of Knight obtained in 1999.
Prof. Lazar Avram is a personality who has distinguished himself through a rich teaching and research activity in the field of petroleum and drilling in particular, which brought him a scientific prestige recognized by the entire academic community in the country and Europe. He graduated from the Institute of Oil and Gas – Ploiesti in 1980 as valedictorian. After a two-year internship in France, he obtained in 1993 the Diplôme de l’Institut Français du Pétrole (Developpement et Exploitation des Gisements). In 1993, he also obtained a Ph.D. in Drilling-Extraction Engineering at PGU. His first job was as an engineer on the offshore drilling platform ‘Gloria’ and he started his university career in 1982 as Assistant at the Institute of Oil and Gas – Ploiesti in the field of Special Drilling and Offshore Drilling. In 1998 he became a Ph.D. Professor. Since 2006 he was Head of the Department of Drilling-Extraction, and since 2011 Director of the Department of Drilling, Extraction and Transportation of Hydrocarbons – FET until 2020 when he became Dean of the Faculty of Petroleum and Gas Engineering at PGU. He has also introduced to research and trained the scientific personalities of 29 Ph.D.s in Mining, Oil and Gas Engineering. The scientific record of Prof. Lazar Avram includes 29 specialized books, five collections and laboratory guidelines, six patents, over 230 articles and scientific papers published in the country or abroad at national and international conferences or published in prestigious journals.
When it comes to rigor and perseverance, the thought almost instantly goes to Prof. Ion Bolocan. The almost 50 years of activity in the service of chemical engineering are marked by the desire to be constantly connected to the latest developments in the field of organic chemistry and petroleum engineering. By applying this principle to himself, he has succeeded in instilling in young people at the Faculty of Petroleum and Petrochemical Technology the desire to know more. So that today, 40 generations of graduates of this faculty can say that they have a solid background in organic chemistry, thanks to the contribution that Prof. Ion Bolocan made to their training. In 45 years of scientific research in the laboratories of the Faculty of Petroleum Technology and Petrochemistry, Prof. Ion Bolocan has contributed to more than 200 books, scientific papers published in international journals, patents, scientific research and engineering technology papers. The organizational skills, fairness and involvement of Prof. Ion Bolocan led to his appointment as Dean of the Faculty of Petroleum Technology and Petrochemicals. He then spent 12 years as pro-rector of PGU. All those who have had the opportunity to work with Prof. Ion Bolocan have gained, in addition to specialized knowledge, rigor, attention to detail and professionalism.
Prof. Cornel Constantin Lazar is a personality with a prestige recognized both nationally and internationally for significant contributions in the field of education and research. The academic community of UPG is grateful for his dedicated and continuous involvement in the development and promotion of Romanian economic education, as well as for his active involvement in supporting the functioning of the Romanian economy. With a degree in economics (Faculty of Economic Cybernetics, ASE Bucharest) and law (Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest), Prof. Cornel Constantin Lazar began his professional career as an economist at the National Institute of Statistics where he made a significant contribution in the field of statistics recognized at national level. The accumulated knowledge and skills led him to embrace a teaching career at the Faculty of Economics of PGU in 1999. The desire for self-improvement and in-depth training in the field of economics led him to pursue doctoral studies at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. At the same time, he climbed up the teaching hierarchy, from assistant professor to full university professor. His commitment, dedication and his managerial and teaching achievements have been rewarded with numerous national and international distinctions, awards and diplomas.
Prof. Cristian Marinoiu attended the Faculty of Mathematics, specialization in Computer Science at the University of Bucharest. In 1988 he took a position of assistant professor at the F.E.A.I. department of I.P.G. Ploiesti, thus becoming the third member of the small Computer Science staff. In 1992, he made a significant contribution to the transformation of the Computer Science collective into a department and participated actively and professionally in its development. The specificity of his basic training allowed him to be competently involved in the support, development and promotion of the specializations Mathematics-Computer Science and Computer Science (where he developed, proposed and led new courses), but also of the Specialization Course in Computer Science, of which he was the director, contributing to solving the shortage of Computer Science teachers in Prahova County. As dean of a newly established faculty, which at that time had the most professorships, the newest specializations (belonging to heterogeneous fields of study) and which ranked second in the university in terms of number of students, he managed through balanced and inspired decisions to enhance and maintain the prestige of the Faculty of Letters and Sciences at the level of the demands traditionally promoted at PGU.
