Volume 122 · No. 27
Thursday, September 29, 2016
EST. 1887
lsunow.com
@lsureveille
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dailyreveille ACADEMICS
KNOWING THE
DRILL
JAKE BONIN / The Daily Reveille
LSU PERTT Lab recreates oil spill disasters for training, research BY ALLISON BRUHL @albruhl__
JAKE BONIN / The Daily Reveille
Six years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, more than 400 University students have made efforts to ensure such a tragedy never occurs again. The LSU Petroleum Engineering Research and Technology Transfer, PERTT, Laboratory provides a hands-on training experience for engineering students. Students manage maintenance routines and conduct research. The facility began development in the early ’80s. Originally, the equipment was used for blowout prevention. Today, the facility recreates disastrous oil spills and focuses further research on safety. “In the late 1970s, the government regulator, which at the time
was the Mass Notification Systems, decided they needed to have everyone that worked on a drilling rig trained in well control techniques,” said PERTT Lab Interim Director Wesley Williams. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest marine oil spill in history, occurred in April 2010. The Deepwater Horizon rig, owned and operated by offshore-drilling company Transocean and leased by BP, exploded. After, a surge of natural gas blasted through the concrete core of the rig. The natural gas ignited as it traveled to the rig’s platform, killing 11 workers and injuring 17. The PERTT Lab has the capability to provide a full-scale well control training with gas kicks,
see PERTT, page 2 courtesy of WIKIMEDIA
NCAA president to speak at BEC BY NATALIE ANDERSON @natalie_mechell NCAA President Mark Emmert will be speaking at the Business Education Complex Auditorium today at 7 p.m. Emmert will be named the first Brian and Barbara Haymon Distinguished Visiting Professor. He will be at the University for three days discussing leadership. Emmert will be teaching three EMMERT honors classes, as well as giving a public lecture titled “Leadership in Challenging Times” and a question and answer session for honor students. Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College Dean Jonathan Earle said Emmert’s leadership discussion can pertain to the current presidential election, athletics and how to lead a university amid budget cuts. Emmert served as the University’s chancellor from 1999 to 2004 before leaving to become president at his alma mater, the University of Washington. Earle said during those years, the University was committed to academics and formed a nationally-regarded Honors College. “[When he left], a lot of people looked back on his tenure here and said that was a really great time for LSU academics and sports,” Earle said. “Our Honors College on campus, the Ogden Honors College, wouldn’t be what it is today were it not for Mark Emmert.” Earle said this event fits for the Honors College because it lacks a faculty. Emmert was involved in the hiring of former LSU football head coach Nick Saban in 1999. Before Emmert served as chancellor, the football team’s graduation rate was among the lowest and significantly improved to become one of the highest before he left the University. As NCAA president, he’s championed greater support for studentathlete wellness and academic success, prioritizing academics, health, well-being and fairness as the NCAA’s top initiatives, according to a news release. Earle invites all students to attend the public lecture event, which will be followed by a public question and answer session.