Texas Tech Petroleum Engineering Receives Donation from LINN Energy
January 31, 2014
Student lounge will be named for half-million dollar gift.
Texas Tech University officials announced a $500,000 gift from LINN Energy that will name the LINN Energy Student Lounge in the new Petroleum Engineering Research Building.
“Students are our top priority, and this new student lounge in the Petroleum Engineering Research Building will be a place where they will learn, discover and excel,” said Chancellor Kent Hance. “We are very grateful to LINN Energy for their contribution to Texas Tech and support of future generations of well-qualified engineers.”
“I am very pleased and thankful, as are our petroleum engineering students, for LINN Energy’s support for the student lounge,” said Al Sacco Jr., dean of the Whitacre College of Engineering. “Education frequently occurs outside the classroom in informal group areas such as this. We anticipate this will significantly add to our students’ educational experience.”
The LINN Energy Student Lounge will be a focal point in the new building and will encourage collaborations among students and provide small study group rooms and an area for the scholarly exchange of ideas between faculty and students.
“LINN Energy is pleased to be a part of this new state-of-the-art Petroleum Engineering Research Building at Texas Tech,” said Arden Walker, LINN’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. “This facility will house classrooms, research labs, and study areas and provide a high quality educational environment for the 21st century engineers needed in the oil and gas industry.”
The Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas Tech is one of the largest petroleum departments in the world and is staffed with industry-experienced faculty. The curriculum of the department is focused on production, operations, and completion. This educational niche is critical, as Texas Tech is a major supplier of petroleum engineers to the Permian Basin and the energy industry worldwide.
The new Petroleum Engineering Research Building will be a $22.8 million facility with approximately 42,000 square feet of modern classroom and research space. The primary goal of the construction of the new building is to provide a facility that will integrate formal teaching environments with hands-on practical applications using cutting-edge research facilities and techniques. It will set the national benchmark for petroleum educational facilities.
“Many evenings I have gone down to our current building’s student lounge and find students studying, collaborating on projects and building camaraderie between themselves,” said Marshall Watson, department chair. “The new building’s lounge will be state-of- the-art with study rooms adjoining the lounge providing a much greater atmosphere for work and study.”
As the petroleum industry advances with new techniques, tools, methods, and the integration of more technology, the opportunities that a new building could offer to petroleum engineering students became apparent to Texas Tech leadership. Modern facilities, including smart classrooms, state-of-the-art integrated research and teaching laboratories, collaborative student study areas, and increased space for anticipated departmental growth, are critical for Texas Tech to attain its goals of keeping students and faculty on the leading edge of petroleum engineering techniques and innovations.
The new Petroleum Engineering Research Building will feature a unique cluster of laboratories. Through a tight integration of these laboratories, a systems approach will be taken in petroleum engineering education that covers the entire spectrum of exploration and production, including business profitability analysis. Key courses in the new facility will address responsible and efficient use of water, the region, and the world's most precious resource.
LINN Energy, LLC has approximately 1,250 employees spread across the United States. Headquartered in Houston, the company’s core focus areas are the Mid-Continent, Permian Basin, Hugoton Basin, Rockies, Michigan, and California. A top-15 U. S. independent oil and natural gas development company, LINN’s mission is to acquire, develop, and maximize cash flow from a growing portfolio of long-life oil and natural gas assets. More information about LINN Energy is available at www.linnenergy.com.
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CONTACT: Jeff Sammons, director of marketing, Whitacre College of Engineering, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-3451, or jeff.sammons@ttu.edu.
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