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Chevron Energy Technology Company and UWA have signed a three year agreement under the Chevron worldwide University Partnership Program to create a new academic post.

The Chevron Chair in Gas Process Engineering will build upon current engineering capabilities in training young engineers for the oil and gas sector. This Professor's main focus will be to develop comprehensive capability in gas process engineering teaching and research at UWA..

The successful candidate will become the first Chevron professor in the UWA ECM Faculty.

Lisa Hawker, Chevron's manager for the WA Alliance for Advanced Energy Solutions, a strategic research collaboration between Chevron and the Western Australian Energy Research Alliance (WA:ERA) says: "The company is looking for the candidate who can create research and teaching programs that address the challenges facing the energy sector. Funding the chair also highlights the importance of WA to Chevron's portfolio. Gas process engineering is a specific area of engineering that is in a high demand, and we believe that the chair will encourage more student interest and training in gas process engineering."

The role of the chair will be helping to create the curriculum, teaching, supervising and conducting research and promoting the course among high quality students.

The chair will also provide consulting services to Chevron's Global Technology Centre and act as the UWA-Chevron relationship manager in oil and gas engineering within The University's legislative requirements.

Chevron will also sponsor two postdoctoral research fellows and two PhD students to establish a team whose purpose is to create a comprehensive, world-class capacity in gas process engineering teaching and research.

The chair will be working in collaboration with Professor Brett Kirk, Head of the School of Mechanical Engineering. Professor Kirk says: "Chevron's involvement builds on an engineering specialisation the university particularly promotes. This is a remit for the future. Both The University and Chevron are working with a vision of a sustainable future in energy".

Professor Kirk hopes that the first undergraduate courses will be taught by the new chair in the 2010 academic year.