CEAT celebrates grand opening of the Phillips 66 Sustainability Lab with ribbon cutting ceremony

CEAT celebrates grand opening of the Phillips 66 Sustainability Lab with ribbon cutting ceremony

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Media Contact: Brandy DeVous | Multimedia Producer | 405-744-5766 | [email protected]

The College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology at Oklahoma State University and Phillips 66 opened the state-of-the-art Phillips 66 Sustainability Lab with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The Phillips 66 Sustainability Lab, located in CEAT's ENDEAVOR Laboratory, is a learning environment designed to foster new innovation within CEAT students.

The ceremony started at 1 p.m. with a student luncheon preceding and featured remarks from distinguished guests, including CEAT Dean Hanchen Huang and Mary Wolf, Phillips 66 representative. The event highlighted the university's commitment to advancing education and research through modernized infrastructure and ad resources.

"Having a well-appointed, dedicated workspace available to student groups enables them to work efficiently and without interruptions to rapidly progress the new sustainability technologies that their projects are advancing," said Laura Southard, adjunct assistant professor for mechanical and aerospace engineering.

From left: Phillips 66 representatives Denay Huddleston and Mary Wolf cut the ribbon with CEAT Dean Hanchen Huang and OSU provost Jeanette Mendez in front of the new Phillips 66 Sustainability Lab.

The Sustainability Lab provides a space for student groups who are working on sustainability projects. Each student group has a workspace similar to a "design pod," which contains necessary furnishings such as worktables, chairs, white boards, video monitors, 3D printers, storage space and ample tools for working on design projects. The student groups are assigned a design pod for the semester and gain 24-hour access to the space for collaboration, Southard said.

"For Phillips 66, this is just another step in a long tradition that we have had in partnership with Oklahoma State University to support our industry by investing in the students who will drive the future of the energy industry. And I cannot tell you how delighted we are," Wolf said.

This fall, there are five groups consisting of more than 40 students working on design projects in the Phillips 66 Sustainability Lab, Southard said. Additionally, starting in January 2025, a new sustainability project will explore the possibility of installing a device on offshore oil platforms to capture wave energy.

This energy could then be used to generate electricity for aiding the separation of hydrogen from seawater, Southard said.

"Being able to work on cutting-edge sustainability projects in this lab as undergraduates both prepares and inspires our CEAT students to become the next generation of leaders in creating a more sustainable world for all of us," Southard said.

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