Best Student Award – Class of 2015–2018

Stian was handed the award "Student of the Year, Subsea Technology" at the Underwater Technology Conference (UTC) 2018 in Bergen on 12 June.

Owe Hagesæther, CEO at GCE Subsea, congratulates Stian: – He is really a deserving prize winner. In addition to very good grades and dedicated attitude, he also has shown great academic skills and an open-minded personality.

Tone Røkenes, Assistant Professor and Stian’s study coordinator at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL) has followed Stian for three years, and says that one of his main strengths is that he is always seeking new knowledge and that he is very strong academically, but at the same time he is a very down-to-earth kind of person. He is a very worthy winner of this price, she concludes.

Stian has been a student assistant in many subjects. Mathematics, thermodynamics, and statics and mechanics of materials, and materials science. This shows that Stian is very helpful and dedicated to his study programme. When he had this role, he was very popular with his fellow students and the lecturers.

Furthermore, Stian has been very active in Bunnsolid, the student’s associations for the subsea programme. Bunnsolid’s main task is to have a close relation to the industry in our region.

GCE Subsea and SpareBank 1 SR-Bank established the award to contribute to a good study- and learning environment. – The Subsea Technology Bachelor Programme has one of the best educational environments in the country, continues Hagesæther.

Stian comes from Ågotnes on Sotra, home of the world’s largest base for subsea aftermarket activities, Coast Center Base. Before his studies at college (HVL), Stian attended Sotra VGS and served a year in the Engineering battalion in the Norwegian Army.

“I was very interested in space and astrophysics in high school, but kept my feet on the ground and chose to pursue the subsea field instead. Inspired by my brother and father who took similar paths, and because I found it appealing to contribute to the evolution and shift of the industry, it became an easy choice”, says Stian.