Petroleum engineering students from Missouri S&T have proven they are the best in North America when it comes to trivia related to their major.

The Missouri S&T PetroBowl team won the 2026 Society of Petroleum Engineers North America Student Symposium PetroBowl championship, held Feb. 28 at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

PetroBowl is a quiz competition in which students use buzzers to answer technical and nontechnical questions related to the petroleum industry and engineering.

“We are so proud to represent the university in this way and show this is the place to attend if you want a strong understanding of the petroleum engineering field,” says Abdul Mujeeb Kassim, a master’s degree student in petroleum engineering from Ghana and captain of the team. “Last year, we were the top school in the United States and came in second for the continent, so it was fulfilling to take the top prize for North America this year.”

Kassim says Missouri S&T previously had a tradition of students competing in PetroBowl, but the team went inactive for several years before coming back to life in 2025.

“Being able to reestablish our team and demonstrate what Missouri S&T brings to the table for petroleum engineering has been a rewarding experience,” he says. “Thanks to everyone’s hard work, we are now in a great position to continue our success in this competition for years to come.”

The team’s coach is Makuach James Makeny, a Ph.D. student in petroleum engineering who previously competed as a student in Petrobowl and has worked as a petroleum engineer in Malaysia, Sudan and South Sudan.

Other members of the team include Christopher Arthur, a senior in petroleum engineering, and Ivan Baffour Awuah, Raissa Mbongue Nahbet Dogbim and Nene Belinyo Maimo — all master’s students in petroleum engineering.

For more information about Missouri S&T’s petroleum engineering programs, visit ese.mst.edu.

About Missouri S&T

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact, according to the Wall Street Journal. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.