ConocoPhillips continued its commitment to funding higher education at The University of Texas at Austin yesterday with a contribution of $1.185 million.
A portion of the donation, $685,000, will support programs and activities at the Cockrell School of Engineering, the McCombs School of Business, the College of Natural Sciences and the Jackson School of Geosciences.
The remaining $500,000 is half of a $1 million pledge to support and name the ConocoPhillips Student Project Laboratory within the Cockrell School’s new Engineering Education and Research Center. This investment will provide funding for five years to support multidisciplinary student engineering projects, which will enable collaboration and hands-on training to prepare students to launch their careers. ConocoPhillips will contribute the other $500,000 toward the $1 million pledge in 2015.
“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.”
Larry Archibald, senior vice president, Exploration at ConocoPhillips and the company’s executive sponsor for UT Austin, presented the checks to Juan Sanchez, vice president for research, during a luncheon on campus that brought together ConocoPhillips representatives and UT Austin faculty members, staffers and students from the colleges and schools that will benefit from the gift.
“We’re pleased to continue our investment at The University of Texas at Austin,” said Archibald. “These funds will help support highly talented, innovative students who will one day contribute to the success of our industry.”
ConocoPhillips is the world’s largest independent energy and production company based on production and proved reserves. Headquartered in Houston, ConocoPhillips had operations and activities in 27 countries, $62 billion in annualized revenue, $120 billion of total assets and approximately 18,800 employees as of March 31, 2014.
