Williams signs US$10 Million weather and climate research alliance with the University of Oklahoma

Tulsa 27 August 2001 A unit of Williams announced a $10 million strategic alliance with the University of Oklahoma (OU) to enhance weather and climate research, technology development, and undergraduate and graduate meteorology education. This commercial arrangement, the largest of its kind in the U.S. between a private corporation and a university meteorology program, is a mutually beneficial agreement that allows OU to expand its top-tier meteorology programs while Williams receives exclusive weather analysis and forecasting tools.

This will give Williams a globally competitive advantage in energy marketing and trading, while related educational and research activities are expected to produce for Williams the nation's most qualified meteorologists and weather impact decision makers.

  • Unique, advanced weather and climate prediction capabilities tailored by the University of Oklahoma's Weather Programs specifically for Williams' weather-sensitive businesses.
  • A grant of $8.1 million over five years to fund research in advanced weather analysis and prediction at the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms (CAPS). This includes funding for a supercomputer that will be most powerful among all Big-12 institutions.
  • A grant of $1.6 million over five years to fund regional climate research at the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies. This money will bring to OU the most advanced climate system model in the world, and will fund research scientists as well as graduate and undergraduate students.
  • Gifts to create the Williams Endowed Chair, an advanced student computer laboratory, funding for three Williams Fellows in the Master of Science in Professional Meteorology Degree in the School of Meteorology and a gift to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey.

The Williams/OU alliance was made possible through technology advances in computing resources and the enactment of Oklahoma State Questions 680 and 681, which provide for the establishment of commercial entities that are licensed for the exclusive right to commercialize the technology developed within research and development sections of universities.

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