Karl F. Hasselmann, who graduated in 1925 with a degree in mining engineering, was oil prospecting in Europe when he began researching how to use gravitational survey methods to locate offshore oil. After returning to the U.S., Hasselmann began drilling with his own company in the Gulf of Mexico and discovered one of the first oil pools in the Texas Gulf — a forerunner of the massive offshore developments to come worldwide. His name lives on in Miner history at Hasselmann Alumni House, named in honor of the surveyor.