On Jan. 20, the University of Houston (UH) said it will lead the Subsea Systems Institute, a national research institute focused on reducing offshore accidents, oil spills and other deepwater incidents.

Rice University, the Johnson Space Center, Texas Southern University, Houston Community College and Lone Star College will be collaborators.

The Institute was announced by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. It will be funded through the Restore Act (Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States) resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the university added.

The Institute will be a national research center for subsea engineering and other offshore energy development issues, including research and technology that can improve Gulf of Mexico resource development, UH said.

The Institute will facilitate:

-Meetings between industry and government regulators;

-Testing and validating equipment;

-Assisting standard-setting institutions with neutral third-party knowledge/best practices;

-Developing new materials and science-based policies;

and

-Overseeing workforce training.

The same day, outgoing Texas Gov. Rick Perry said $4 million in funds, given to Texas by BP Plc (NYSE: BP) after the spill, will fund the Institute and a second center led by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Total funding will depend on civil penalties levied in court, the university added. The Institute is one of two Centers of Excellence established from the Restore Act’s funds, the university said. The Act requires that the five Gulf Coast states affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill create research centers.

"We are grateful for this grant, which is the culmination of years of work to establish the University of Houston as The Energy University and a vibrant and comprehensive partner with the energy industry,” Renu Khator, UH’s president, said. “We envision our Subsea Systems Institute as serving to ensure that technologies, policies, regulations and standards needed for safe and environmentally responsible operations in the energy industry are developed and shared."

“A center focused on prevention is the right thing to do,” said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, UH’s chief energy officer. “A center in Houston is the right place to do it, and UH, Rice and NASA is the right team.”