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Energy program gets $100K grant

Award will support curriculum, financial aid in GEMI's undergraduate study course

Cougar News Services

UH's Global Energy Management Institute has received a $100,000 grant to support its undergraduate professional training program for two years.

The Barbara Bush Excellence in Education Award from the Independent Petroleum Association of America will support scholarships, curriculum, internships and marketing in GEM Track, the institute's Undergraduate Honors Program.

The institute helps train students to work in the oil and gas industry, which IPAA Chairman John B. Walker said is facing turnover issues in employment in the coming years as many employees reach retirement age. The Bauer College of Business created GEMI with the goal of providing the industry with the new talent it will need.

"The innovative program blends technical and business curricula so that students are prepared to tackle all aspects of the energy sector," Lane Sloan, the program's executive director, said in a release.

Seven students are enrolled in GEM Track, which includes more demanding requirements in sciences, accounting, energy finance, economics and mathematics. 

Sloan said he hopes to double the program's enrollment by Fall 2005.

"The GEM Track program is an ambitious attempt to tackle some of (the challenges facing the industry)," Walker said in a release. "IPAA is proud to recognize the University, and particularly this education program, for its dedication to the study of energy."

The IPAA Educational Foundation established the Bush award in 1997. Other winners include Project Grad, the Be an Angel Fund and the Offshore Energy Center.

The IPAA's member companies drill 85 percent of the United States' oil and natural gas wells and account for 60 percent of America's crude oil production and 75 percent of the country's natural gas supply.

GEMI, in addition to the GEM Track program, offers a six-course sequence leading to a certificate in energy management as well as a program for an accounting certificate in energy. It also offers a five-year program for a bachelor of business administration and master's degree in energy markets.
 

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