CIPR is the home for the College’s academic research enterprise, supporting curiosity-driven research, as well as challenge-driven contract research for both government and industry. The CIPR embodies the shift toward research and research-intensive education that is at the heart of the College of Petroleum Engineering & Geosciences (CPG). With the CIPR, it is envisioned that there will be a substantial increase in College-based research activity to support ten-fold increase in enrollment in research-oriented doctoral programs over the next ten years. The CIPR will establish a strong presence in the Dhahran Techno Valley, DTV, and this will open the opportunity for a variety of engagements between industry and the CIPR and CPG in research and education.
The development of the CIPR presents a significant opportunity for the College. This opportunity is to define and launch distinctive CIPR research programs, develop industrial consortia and other forms of industrial engagement, and provide student research experiences that are world-class and/or uniquely valuable. While the facilities and full scale of the CIPR have yet to be determined, the path and purposes are made clear by considering the growth plans for the College over the next decade:
1) The number of undergraduates enrolled in the College is to remain largely unchanged at 180 to 190. Activity at the CIPR will enrich the undergraduate curriculum but not determine the number of undergraduate students.
2) The number of master’s students enrolled in the College is likely to remain largely unchanged at about 160. Activity at the CIPR will enrich the MS curriculum but not determine the number of students.
3) The number of doctoral students enrolled in the College is expected to grow from 15 at present to over 90 at maturity. This will require a substantial expansion of the research activity at the College and, therefore, at the CIPR.
The largely “greenfield” nature of the CPG, especially with regard to the CIPR and the research programs means that design and development decisions and actions over the next 24 months have the potential to create distinctive and distinguishing characteristics for the College. These include:
1) Unique or world-‐class research facilities, opportunities for researchers and faculty, and research programs
2) Global research engagement of academe through partnerships and collaborations and by drawing short-‐ and medium-‐term visiting research personnel to CIPR
3) An integrated undergraduate and MS curricula, focusing on student research engagement and student professional practice engagement
4) Substantial industrial engagement in research and education
The CIPR is projected to grow to an organization of 75 full-time-equivalent (FTE) research personnel, approximately 35 FTEs being provided either by faculty members or senior non-‐faculty research professionals. Personnel working at CIPR are expected to include full time visiting researchers from industry and post-docs (included in the FTE count of 75). In addition, the CIPR is intended to host a large number of graduate students, short-term visiting researchers from industry, and visiting researchers from other academic and research institutions globally. These levels of activity represent a five- or six-fold increase, over 2015 levels, in research activities in petroleum engineering and geosciences (or closely allied topics) at KFUPM.
* The complete website for the Center for Integrative Petroleum Research (CIPR) is currently under construction and will be made available soon.
