The SPE Student Chapter of the Politecnico di Torino was officially founded in 2001 and was named “Augusta Taurinorum” to remind the ancient Roman history and traditions of the city of Torino.
The mission of the Student Chapter Augusta Taurinorum is to increase, support, and improve all the activities aimed at assisting the students during their school years and at providing them with the means to successfully win the challenges of their future career.
The Student Chapter is committed to connecting students focused on the same educational program from different universities, and also to providing a link between senior students, who will soon become petroleum engineers, and the oil industry world. Young men and women who have to make decisions for their future lives can meet skilled and experienced people from the oil business who can help them to finalize their efforts to fulfil their expectations after graduation.

Students can also experience studying and living in a foreign country within the exchange programs (such as the Erasmus) offered by the Academia or through direct contact with other European Technical Universities. In this respect a special mention should be made to the London Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, to Delft University of Technology and to the École du Pétrole et des Moteurs (IFP School), which welcome some students of ours every year. B.Sc. and M.Sc. theses and Ph.D. dissertations are offered on several different topics.
In the last years, thanks to the efforts of the most active members, the initiatives of the Chapter have gained a large consensus from the other students, who have enthusiastically joined SPE. Also students from other universities, such as the Politecnico di Milano, Energy Department, have registered in the Torino Student Chapter. As a consequence, the number of the SPE members has increased noticeably. The Student Chapter currently counts on over forty members, and the expectations are that this number will not decrease in the next years.
Since 2001 the activity of our Student Chapter includes technical visits, scholarships, and various workshops attendance. The facilities of the Student Chapter are located in the “Dipartimento di Ingegneria del Territorio, dell’Ambiente e delle Geotecnologie” (DITAG) of the Politecnico di Torino and comprise: a students’ room with a PC, a library with a well-furbished Petroleum Section, a JPT collection and other technical magazines. A meeting open to all members is organized every month to discuss and promote the Chapter activities.
The best way to share experiences among Student Chapters is the attendance of the European Student Council (ESC), a part of the world-wide organization of the petroleum engineers students joining SPE. The SPE European Student Council was founded in 2000 and it has the following main goals: to bring people together by enhancing communication between the European Chapters; to exchange knowledge and try to solve common problems; to strengthen Europe’s position within SPE; to serve as a contact interface between Chapters, companies and SPE Professional.

The SPE European Student Council meetings are organized by the Student Chapters in turn, and it is considered an honor to distinguish on efficiency and capability to make the event really profitable and unique.
Many initiatives promoted by ESC are becoming more and more important: a dedicated webpage, yearly meetings, an ESC Bulletin, an internet chat line.
In March 2002 a Student Chapter delegation participated to the "4th SPE European Council Meeting" in Stavanger, Norway. After this first great experience, a delegation of the Augusta Taurinorum Student Chapter joined the 5th SPE European Student Council held in Croatia, November 3 – 9, 2002.
In 2004 the 7th European Student Council Meeting was proudly organized by the Student Chapter Augusta Taurinorum in Italy. The meeting included technical presentations and visits, student lectures on petroleum engineering topics. It has been another chance to favor cultural exchanges among students from different countries and universities and to visit the city of Turin and other main northern Italian cities.
Among the most relevant event, we would like to recall that in 2005 a group of delegates from Waseda university, together with some Japanese students, met the student chapter fellows at the Politecnico di Torino. This event has really excited us because we could share experiences and knowledge with people truly coming from another reality and having very different background.
Besides our regular activity, consisting of technical seminars and workshops, in May 2006 we also hosted a presentation of Young Professionals from the Ambassador Lecture Program, a series of meetings hold by Young Professional volunteers that allowed SPE to fill the gap in reaching out to students by visiting them at their universities. This amazing opportunity allowed young professionals to share their personal experiences about the first steps in their petroleum career.

In 2010 the Augusta Taurinorum Student Chapter counts about 130 members.