As part of Shell’s partnership with LSU, Shell representatives presented a short film and hosted a panel discussion Thursday about the future of energy at an event titled “Shell Energy Symposium”.
According to the LSU Media Center, LSU’s partnership with Shell has heightened with the $27.5 million investment by Shell, the university’s largest gift from a for-profit corporation in support of energy-related initiatives.
The event took place in Patrick F. Taylor Hall and started with a short film titled “Rational Middle Net Zero” followed by a panel discussion.
Lee Stockwell, general manager of carbon capture utilization and storage at Shell, was a speaker at the event. He said that Shell’s main objective with LSU and its students is to tackle society’s biggest problem, which he identified as the energy transition.
The world emits around 50 billion tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere, Stockwell said. He believes that Shell and LSU’s collaborative efforts toward conscious energy consumption can help the world reach net zero.
“We have to get to a position where we reduce carbon emissions to zero,” Stockwell said. “We have to address ways we produce energy now and create solutions that will be able to manage the growing energy demand.”
Stockwell graduated from LSU with a degree in petroleum engineering. His passion for providing energy to third-world countries, he said, came from his professors and classes at LSU. His hope is that LSU students will pursue these opportunities and bring them into the realm of energy transition through solar power for all countries.
All students at LSU are a catalyst toward zero carbon emission, according to Stockwell. He said he wants students to have a passion for the world’s progress.
“[Eliminating carbon emission] will take passionate individuals,” Stockwell said. “It’s not just passionate people from engineering and science communities, it’s all of our communities. These challenges span the breadth of so many disciplines.”
Stockwell said that there is an educational component to the energy transition. He believes helping people understand the problems that face society will bring clarity.
He also said Shell’s collaboration with LSU can trickle down to the University Lab School and unlock passions for energy for future generations.
“Bringing the youth into a position where they start to understand these problems early on,” Stockwell said. “What LSU and the University Lab School are doing is bringing the next wave of students. What we hope is that future generations want to make a difference and make sustainable choices.”
Of the $27.5 million investment, $6.7 million will focus on diversity and inclusion within the university, according to Stockwell. He said that Shell supports underrepresented communities within its organization and wants students from various backgrounds to have the necessary opportunities to afford college.
Rochelle Touchard, Shell senior corporate relations adviser, sees the partnership with LSU as a culmination of energy companies, universities and the Louisiana government partnering together.
“We can’t do this alone,” Touchard said. “It’s going to take everyone to tackle carbon emissions.”
LSU President William Tate’s Pentagon Strategy focuses on the components of agriculture, business, coastal, defense and energy. Stockwell and Touchard believe that each one is essential to Shell’s focus.
Touchard said that first-generation students are important within LSU and the fields of Shell.
Shell has assets and facilities that sit within communities that they operate in and provide residents with necessary educational resources that can allow them to become future employees, Touchard said.
Chemical engineering senior Marian Luzier received a Shell Scholarship. She said she learned about the scholarship from a list of scholarships for incoming college freshmen.
Luzier said that the scholarship has helped her stay active in the LSU Ogden Honors College and complete her honors thesis.
“From Shell’s scholarship, I have become a better speaker and a team collaborator,” Luzier said.
She hopes to work as a chemical engineer and learn more about carbon dioxide emissions.
The audience listens to the panelists' discussion during the Shell Energy Symposium on September 8, 2022, at Patrick F. Taylor Hall on South Quad Drive in Baton Rouge, La.
