Houston, May 7, 2018: Students enrolled in geology and geosciences programs at Indiana University of Pennsylvania have the opportunity to use specialized software, made possible by LMKR's University Grants Program. LMKR, an international petroleum technology company, has provided IUP with its GeoGraphix® and GVERSE^TM platform, valued at US$2.8 million.

"The software will give our students hands-on experience with a tool they can expect to see when they enter the work force. As far as we know, IUP is the only university in the northeastern United States to be able to provide this opportunity to students," said Steven Hovan, who chairs IUP's Geoscience Department. "Oil and gas exploration requires an understanding of interactions between a wide range of complex variables. LMKR's GeoGraphix® and GVERSE^TM platform give us the tools to manage these data to assure that geologists make accurate decisions and mitigate risks associated with exploration and development." Deanne Snavely, dean of IUP's College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, agreed. "University-industry partnerships are important to our students and faculty as they help keep our curriculum up to date, provide internship sites for students, and stimulate research discoveries that move our scientific knowledge forward," Snavely said. "LMKR has stepped up to create this wonderful partnership, and we look forward to great things in the future."

LMKR announced its grant of software just as IUP announced that it is in the public phase of the $75- million Imagine Unlimited fundraising campaign. Among other initiatives, the campaign is focusing on science programs and a new building that will house many of the departments of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, including Geoscience.

"Utilizing these core and advanced G&G tools will certainly create the opportunity for IUP to become the learning hub for students in the Northeast to achieve more by using the latest E&P software," Peter Batdorf, LMKR's Territory Manager.  "We wanted to provide IUP researchers and students with a suite of industry-leading, highly sophisticated and robust tools that optimize the efficiency of petroleum and natural gas exploration and production and that give students an advantage when vying for highly competitive jobs in the oil and gas industry."

Designed to benefit nonprofit academic institutions that train the future talent of the upstream oil and gas industry, the LMKR University Grant Program gives access to some of the industry's most powerful geological and geophysical software packages.  The program's goal is to ensure that the best and brightest enter the workforce, trained in the technology they will need to be successful in their careers as petroleum engineers, exploration managers, geologists, geophysicists, and geo-technologists.