ConocoPhillips will provide $1 million to the Cockrell School of Engineering to fund student-led projects and create a state-of-the-art student project laboratory. The lab will be located within the Engineering Education and Research Center (EERC), a 430,000-square-foot facility that, when completed in 2017, will boost multidisciplinary, hands-on education and transform the UT Austin campus.
Half the gift will go toward the creation of the ConocoPhillips Student Project Lab, and the other half will be used to create the ConocoPhillips Opportunity Fund, which will support various engineering student projects over a five-year period, with $100,000 in annual funding.
“ConocoPhillips continues to be an outstanding partner, and we are grateful for its support of our engineering students,” said Sharon L. Wood, interim dean of the Cockrell School. “When completed, the ConocoPhillips Student Project Laboratory will offer our students an extraordinary opportunity to formulate and test their innovative ideas by working together.”
Today, Cockrell School students’ hands-on projects range from designing water filter systems for the energy industry to developing 3-D printed health care prosthetics for injured veterans. The school is committed to providing students with more opportunities for hands-on learning projects throughout their undergraduate careers. Currently, most students only participate in a one-semester project during their senior year — a senior design or capstone design course. With this generous gift from ConocoPhillips, the Cockrell School now has more resources and space to increase its capacity for project-based learning.
A longtime Cockrell School supporter, ConocoPhillips sponsors numerous scholarships and an annual event called the Ramshorn Retreat, which offers intensive leadership development training for undergraduate students of the Cockrell School.
Former chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips James Mulva recently gave $20 million to the Cockrell School for the creation of the James J. and Miriam B. Mulva Conference Center and Auditorium in the EERC. ConocoPhillips, a Fortune 500 energy company based in Houston, employs more than 29,000 people worldwide.
