LSU Petroleum Engineering

It is with deep sadness we announce the passing of Dr. Zaki Bassiouni in July 2026. Dr. Bassiouni came to the department as an Assistant Professor in 1977, became Department Chair in 1983 and the College of Engineering Dean in 2004 until his retirement in 2008. Please share a memory about Dr. Bassiouni with us.

Today marks a major and exciting milestone for LSU as drilling operations officially began on LSU Research Well #3 at the PERTT Lab.

This is a proud moment for the Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering, the LSU College of Engineering, and the University. After months of planning and preparation, the rig is turning and an extraordinary hands-on learning experience is now underway directly on the LSU campus.
Opportunities for students to participate in active drilling operations at a university research site are exceptionally rare, making this a remarkable project for LSU.

One of the most exciting aspects of this effort is the involvement of 20 LSU Petroleum Engineering student interns working onsite throughout operations — ranging from students who just completed their freshman year to graduating seniors. These students are gaining direct field exposure alongside industry professionals in an exceptional educational environment.

This is the first of many field updates we will be sharing as operations progress from spud to completion. We look forward to giving students, alumni, industry partners, and friends of LSU an inside look at this project unfolding in real time at the PERTT Lab.

Today is and your donation helps enable our dept to offer more opportunities like these for our students! Visit https://give.lsufoundation.org/schools/LouisianaStateUniversityFoundation/lsu-giving-day/pages/engineering and scroll down to our dept to participate!