Initial architect’s conception for the proposed Collaborative Energy Complex. Rendering courtesy of EAPC Engineers Architects of Grand Forks, N.D.
A state-of-the-art facility that would connect Leonard Hall on the University of North Dakota campus with the rest of UND’s engineering complex has been a dream of the College of Engineering & Mines for decades, according to its dean, Hesham El-Rewini.
Thanks to private donations from generous alumni and friends, most recently from Grand Forks-based AE2S (Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc.), the College is nearly halfway to realizing that dream.
“We have completed the planning phase and already started the fundraising phase of the project,” El- Rewini said.
During the 2013 North Dakota Petroleum Council’s annual conference, held Sept. 16-18 in Grand Forks, UND President Robert Kelley announced that AE2S had utilized a match program authorized by the North Dakota Legislature to donate more than $1 million toward the Collaborative Energy Complex (CEC) proposal.
AE2S, with offices in North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Utah, was founded by President Charlie Vein and CEO Steve Burian, both alumni and longtime supporters of UND.
“We see this as an investment not only in our potential workforce and UND, but as an investment in the future economic development of our state,” Burian said. “We are incredibly proud to be a part of this groundbreaking facility.”
Other major support has come from two UND alumni families in Houston, Texas: Robert “Bob” Solberg and his wife, Kris; and Thomas “Tom” Hamilton and his wife, Carolyn. Bob currently is chairman of JDR Cable Systems, Ltd., and Kris works as a childbirth educator and community volunteer in Houston. Since 2003, Tom has co-owned Medora Investments, a private investment firm.
Collaboration is key
The $10 million, 30,000-square-foot Collaborative Energy Complex (CEC), as the new facility is being dubbed, will be set on the southeast part of campus between Upson I and the Harold Hamm School of Geology & Geological Engineering in Leonard Hall. The new CEC will bridge the two existing facilities, forming a major engineering education and research complex on campus that will include Upson I and II, Harrington Hall, and the nearby Wilson M. Laird Core and Sample Library.
The CEC primarily will serve as a new headquarters for UND’s Institute for Energy Studies and the rapidly growing Department of Petroleum Engineering. Currently, the College is bursting at the seams with petroleum engineering students, fueled by booming oil and gas exploration in western North Dakota.
The new facility will be more than just a building to house programs. El-Rewini stressed that the CEC — as its name suggests — will provide students and faculty with a place to interact with each other as well as with colleagues from other units on campus and beyond.
Room to grow
Over the past 10 years, enrollment within the College of Engineering & Mines has nearly doubled to more than 1,600 students, driven by expanded program offerings and opportunities for students to learn and research new and exciting developments in engineering.
One of those new opportunities is in petroleum engineering. From its start just three short years ago, UND’s Petroleum Engineering program has grown from a handful of pioneering students to more than 200 this fall.
“We anticipate the classes that follow will likely have more than 20 graduates each year,” said Steve Benson, chair of the Department of Petroleum Engineering. “Our faculty also is increasing in size.”
The UND Petroleum Engineering program is the only one of its kind in the state and is among a small number of accredited programs — about 20 or so — in the nation.
David Dodds