New Chemical Engineering Building

It finally seems that a New Chemical Engineering Building is on the way. At least, it is a high priority for the University and is on the Capital Outlay plan. The only real uncertainty that still remains is whether the State will be able to come through with the proposed funding. The total cost for this new facility is estimated around $26 million. We must raise $3 million in private donations in order to “trigger” the State support.

The new building will sit along South Stadium Drive, near the CEBA building, and it will nearly double our existing space. Chemical engineering has not see any new construction since the newest portion of our current facilities was constructed in 1971. We continually renovate to improve on these facilities but are at a point where we desperately need additional space if the department is to continue to grow.

We need to hire additional faculty (and have plans to do so in the next year in addition to the two new faculty that will be joining us this fall) but cannot do so without adding space for more offices and labs. With the new faculty comes the prospect of increased student enrollment, particularly in our graduate program. This again requires additional space to fully accommodate and meet the needs of our students as well as our researchers. The new building will also allow us to expand our program and provide even more state- of-the-art resources and equipment to our faculty, researchers, and students.

If and when the new Chemical Engineering Building comes to fruition, it will provide us with the space and resources we need to continue our march towards greater national prominence.

As you are probably already aware, the department (in conjunction with the College of Engineering and the LSU Foundation) has launched a massive fund-raising campaign to raise the required $3 million in private funds. This campaign began with a very generous donation by Ronald Cambre (B.S., 1960), who is the former CEO of Newmont Mining Corp - the largest gold-producing company in the world. Mr. Cambre and his wife, Gail Burguieres Cambre, donated $1 million for the new chemical engineering building followed by a $250,000 donation from Newmont Mining Corp. This was followed by a gift of $100,000 from George Daniels (B.S., 1963).

Since the start of the campaign, many more alumni have made generous contributions and we cannot express enough our sincerest gratitude for these gifts. At this time, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to both Cambre and Daniels as well as the following alumni and friends:

Armand S. Abay (B.S., 1976)
Jerry W. Affolter (B.S., 1942)
Lawrence F. Becnel, Jr. (B.S., 1963; M.S., 1964)
Harold S. Birkett (B.S., 1964; M.S., 1971; Ph.D., 1977)
Brent Calongne (B.S., 1961)
Bob Chow (B.S., 1980)
James Combes (B.S., 1982)
Armando Corripio (B.S., 1963; MS., 1967; Ph.D., 1970)
John F. Davis (B.S., 1951)
Patrick Dietrich (B.S., 1976)
Leonard G. Fontenot (B.S, 1959)
Carlos Gutierrez (B.S., 1961)
Warren J. Hachet (B.S, 2003)
Keith B. Hall (B.S., 1985)
Richard W. Hise (B.S., 1978)
Alvin H. Landry (B.S., 1949)
Clyde C. Lester, Jr. (B.S., 1952)
Mamerto Luzarraga (B.S., 1971)
James R. Madden (B.S., 1972; MS., 1974)
Todd Nilsen (B.S., 1981)
Robert Osborne (B.S., 1962)
A. J. Perk, Jr. (B.S., 1962)
Dalton J. PoIlet (B.S., 1936; M.S., 1938)
Raghunathan Ravikrishna (Ph.D., 2000)
Steven P. Reynolds (B.S., 1999)
Willie F. Robert III (B.S., 1961)
Rene L. Sagebien (B.S., 1963)
Roy E. Sanders (B.S., 1965)
Kristina Scholten (B.S., 1985)
James Sparkman (B.S., 1955)
Brent Tregre (B.S., 1963)
Susanne Tully (B.S., 1985)
Wayne A. Turner (B.S., 1975)
Maurice W. Wei (B.S., 1953)
Donald Winkler (B.S., 1957; MS., 1958; Ph.D., 1961)

If anyone would like to learn more concerning the plans for the new building or the fund-raising campaign, you may contact us anytime or you may visit our Web site, www.che.lsu.edu, where the complete architectural plans are available for viewing as well as information on ways to donate.