  BP Makes $10.6 Million Gift to Fund Immersive Visualization Center
The recent merger of energy giants British Petroleum and Amoco has created an unexpected beneficiary in the University of Colorado — and a new Center for Visualization in the College of Engineering that will advance research and learning throughout the state. Through a $10.6 million gift of intellectual property, equipment, and operating cash, the combined company now known as BP is transferring its state-of-the-art immersive visualization technology to the university. CU beat out several other schools who were vying for the new center, including the University of Texas, Texas A&M, the University of Oklahoma, and the Colorado School of Mines. "The proposal that came from (CU) was the most compelling," said Kenny Lang, vice president of BP's Upstream Technology Group in Houston, who came to Denver for the Oct. 18 announcement. Lang said that CU's proposal was the most interdisciplinary and that he was looking forward to partnering with the university in continuing to develop the technology. The visualization technology — an environment known as the CAVE — was first developed by ARCO in the late 1990s. It has been revolutionizing oil and gas exploration and production by giving personnel a new way to interpret 3-D seismic data. The CAVE is a 50 x 50 x 20-foot virtual reality workroom resembling a mini-theatre, comprised of projection screens that form the walls of the room, stretching nearly from the floor to the ceiling, and a floor projection surface. Users wear special battery-operated eyeglasses that are activated by an infrared beam and enable them to study and manipulate visual data in a three-dimensional inter-active setting. "The use of immersive visualization technology is helping our engineers and geologists make better decisions and significantly reduce the time required to plan new oil and gas well locations," Lang said. Even more important to CU is that the technology has the potential to be applied to other industries and disciplines, including agriculture and forestry, health sciences, military strategy, atmospheric and environmental science, and even Mars exploration. Interactive 3-D displays can be developed to represent geologic formations, advanced aircraft designs or the anatomy of the human body. Engineering Dean Ross Corotis said the technology brings a host of research and curriculum development opportunities and that CU will be partnering with other universities in developing the technology. The center plans to work with the Colorado School of Mines and Colorado State University, as well as visualization programs at universities throughout the country, to further develop and apply the technology to a range of disciplines.
The new center will be located within the Aerospace Engineering and Computer Science departments and housed in 7,800-square-feet of space being refurbished on the East Campus. Professor George Morgenthaler will direct the center, which also will include several new research faculty transferring from BP's research facility in Plano, Texas. A satellite facility, with a smaller visualization environment, will be established at the CU Health Sciences Center. CU President Elizabeth Hoffman said the gift is the largest single* corporate donation ever made to the University of Colorado, and that it will help the university meet the research, education, and employment needs of the state's high-technology sector. "Colorado citizens can be proud of CU and excited about this partnership, which joins education, commerce, and technology," said Colorado Secretary of Technology Marc Holtzman, who helped to secure the gift along with Colorado Governor Bill Owens and CU Regent Norwood Robb. Industry and governmental agencies will be able to participate in the center, while also helping to support it. Landmark Graphics, a leading supplier of technical and economic software for the energy industry, already has provided a $1 million grant in support of the center, and Lockheed Martin is considering participating as well. The center hopes to become self-sufficient after a three-year period. "It's going to create a magnet. You're going to have to beat people away with a stick," BP's Lang predicted. *Hewlett Packard has contributed a greater total amount to CU ($13.6 million) through a series of donations.
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