Berg-Hughes Center brings a new approach to energy education.

By Kara Socol



Aggie geology and geophysics graduates believe Texas A&M University must help the nation find energy sources to meet its needs, says Diane Barron ’81, director of development for A&M’s College of Geosciences.

"New energy and energy techniques are coming," says Barron, who believes key discoveries will come from the research and academic pursuits of one of Texas A&M’s most recent -- and most promising -- endeavors: the Berg-Hughes Center for Petroleum and Sedimentary Systems.

Approved in July by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, the center brings together geologists, geophysicists, marine geologists and geophysicists, and petroleum engineers from the College of Geosciences and the Dwight Look College of Engineering.

By immersing graduate students in the center’s interdisciplinary education and research, they will receive the ultimate preparation for tackling energy challenges on multiple levels. Through this integrated approach, Texas A&M offers peerless academic and research experience.

The center is named in memory of Dr. Robert R. Berg, a member of Texas A&M’s geology and geophysics faculty from 1967-95. Barron said the use of Berg’s name is ideal. Known for his fundamental science research, Berg also had a reputation for taking that research and applying it to real-world problems.

That same practice is mirrored in the Berg-Hughes Center, an institution that will study energy challenges on several fronts and then work with industry to devise solutions. The second part of the center’s name honors brothers Dan A. Hughes and Dudley Hughes, both Class of ’51, and Dan Hughes’ son, Dan Allen Hughes ’80. Together, the independent oilmen gave $1 million to the Texas A&M Foundation to establish an endowment for the naming of the center. Other donors’ contributions increased the still-growing endowment to $2.9 million so far.

Another gift to the Foundation from Dan A. Hughes created an endowed chair to be awarded to the center’s director, Dr. Ernest A. Mancini ’74.

For more on the Berg-Hughes Center, visit http://berg-hughes.tamu.edu.

To find out more about supporting the Berg-Hughes Center, contact Diane Barron at the Texas A&M Foundation at (800) 392-3310.