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A Publication of THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN — Week of August 5, 2002
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University receives drilling core research facility, collection of earth core samples from oil, gas wells valued at $7.5 million from BP BP, a global oil and gas production and refining company, has given its drilling core research facility in Houston and a valuable collection of earth core samples from oil and gas wells valued at $7.5 million to the Bureau of Economic Geology at The University of Texas at Austin. The gift includes $2.4 million for operating expenses for the research facility. “The impact of BP’s gift goes far beyond its dollar value,” said Larry R. Faulkner, president of The University of Texas at Austin. “This extraordinary core sample collection, together with our existing holdings, is certain to make The University of Texas at Austin the premier archivist of subsurface rock material in the United States. We offer our deepest thanks to BP for its tremendous generosity.” The gift includes more than 12 acres of land, 108,000 square feet of warehouse and office space, machinery, equipment, furnishings, more than 200,000 boxes of core samples and 200,000 boxes of rock cuttings. The core data alone represent more than one million feet of continuous rock. The core samples are cylindrical in shape and range in size from four to six inches in diameter. The cuttings samples are ground up rock chips captured every 10 feet while a well is drilling. The core and cuttings samples, which are taken from as deep as 20,000 feet, are used by scientists to understand the geology at great depths and increase the potential for discovering oil and natural gas. “This gift is the largest of its kind to date in the United States,” said Dr. Scott Tinker, director of the Bureau of Economic Geology. “BP’s generous donation to a public research university will not only advance the study of energy in Texas and the nation, but also will significantly impact basic university studies in areas such as climate change, hydrology, landscape evolution, paleobiology, engineering and geohazards, and environmental issues.” Scientists and students who are conducting various forms of research will use the stored core and cuttings samples. The Houston Core Research Center, built in 1986 in west Houston, joins the bureau’s other core repositories in Midland and at the university’s J.J. Pickle Research Campus in Austin. The Austin and Midland facilities, which are near capacity, have combined holdings of more than 1.2 million boxes of cores and cuttings. |
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University News Briefs GSLIS receives $200,000 grant from Microsoft • Andrew Dillon, dean and professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, has been awarded $200,000 by Microsoft Research to lead a series of investigations into the user response to ClearType technology. Dillon was approached by Microsoft Research to design a series of evaluations that will test the effect of this new feature on a range of information-intensive tasks. "This technology seeks to advance significantly the usability of digital documents," Dillon said. "As a critic of many e-text applications, I am delighted Microsoft has selected us to conduct scientific evaluations of the technology's real value to users." The funding will support a research team at Austin and further aid the development of a new user experience research lab at the school. Physics Professor Zhen Yao honored • Dr. Zhen Yao, assistant professor in the Department of Physics, has been selected as the winner of the 2001-2002 Outstanding Young Researcher Award of the Overseas Chinese Physics Association. The selection was made by a panel of distinguished physicists among a group of highly accomplished young Chinese physicists and recognizes Yao's past achievements and future potential. The award carries a $1,500 stipend. Texas Civil Rights Project founder to teach government course this fall • The founder and director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, James C. Harrington, will teach a new government course titled “Civil Liberties” this fall for the University Extension program. The class, GOV 357M, will explore civil liberties themes such as religious exercise, free speech, criminal procedure, capital punishment, right to privacy, equal protection, due process and disabilities rights. The class is open to anyone in the greater Austin community, fulfills college course credit guidelines and does not require admission to the university. For more information about Harrington’s class or University Extension, call 471-2900 or visit the University Extension Web site. University of Texas System announces appointment of vice chancellor for administration • Tonya Moten Brown, an administrator at the University of Minnesota since 1997, has been appointed to the newly created position of vice chancellor for administration at The University of Texas System. The appointment was made by Chancellor R. D. Burck in consultation with Mark G. Yudof, who became chancellor on Aug. 1. Brown will be the primary contact from the chancellor's office for administrative matters related to the UT System's operations and planning. She will represent the chancellor's office on governmental committees, collaborate with system officials to ensure organizational effectiveness and direct the analysis and evaluation of system activities for the chancellor's office.
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