New Petroleum Engineering Building
Live Construction Webcam
About the Building
The new petroleum engineering building will be a $22,800,000 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.
Located east of the Industrial Engineering and Mechanical Engineering Buildings on the Northeast corner of the Engineering Key, the new Petroleum Engineering Building's exterior will integrate with the distinctive arches that surround the Engineering Key. (Click on the images for a higher resolution view.)
The goal of this project is to begin offering courses and instruction in the new facility during the 2013-2014 academic year.
The department is one of the largest in the country, averaging over 500 students, making Texas Tech one of the leading producers of industry ready petroleum engineers . This building will allow the department to grow to 600 undergraduate students.
Industry asked engineering schools to produce more industry-ready engineers…the Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering has accepted this challenge, raised admission standards to a 3.0 GPA at Texas Tech, and sustained one of the largest departments in the country.
The existing shared 30-year-old petroleum engineering building is outdated, designed for teaching old production techniques and technologies, and is in need of updating and modernization. Modern facilities, including smart classrooms, state-of-the-art integrated research laboratories, student study areas, and increased space for anticipated departmental growth, are critical for Texas Tech to attain its goals of updating the petroleum engineering program.
The new petroleum engineering research building will feature a unique cluster of laboratories. Through the 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.
Each of the labs will be associated with the overall petroleum engineering curriculum or specific courses and will tightly integrate with students’ experiences in other laboratories and other disciplines such as geosciences and environmental engineering.
The integrated petroleum laboratories will offer students both a theoretical and practical education that compliments classroom material through hands-on applications. The building will feature the following laboratories, teaching, and research areas:
- Unconventional Technology Center
- Apache Upstream Research Center
- Fluids Laboratory
- Reservoir Simulation Center and Drilling Laboratory
- Rheology Laboratory
- Pressure Volume Temperature Laboratory
This building is symbolic of Texas Tech’s commitment to the petroleum industry and its investment to propel this program to the top of petroleum engineering departments.
Groundbreaking Ceremony
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on October 5, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. on the Engineering Key.
Construction Photos
For updates on the project and the latest construction photos, visit the Facilities Planning & Construction web page for this building.
