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The Mork Family Gift

On September 16, 2005, energy entrepreneur John Mork and his family gave $15 million to the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering to name the newly merged Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, which includes Petroleum Engineering, the program from which Mork received his degree in 1970.

The gift from Mork, Chief Executive Officer of the Denver-based Energy Corporation of America (ECA), his wife Julie, and children Kyle and Alison, establishes a new name for the department: Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. Since 1989, petroleum engineering has been a program within chemical engineering.

“Advances at the nano-bio-chemical interface will have a significant impact on many fronts, including our ability to develop a new means of energy production, for example, through fuel cells and new materials to facilitate the conversion of natural gas to hydrogen,” said Mork, who oversees ECA, a privately held company that would rank among the top 50 largest oil and gas companies in the country if it were publicly owned.

Mork family's naming gift will allow the department to strengthen its research and teaching in fields of vital importance to society, while enabling faculty and students to collaborate across disciplines.

Read more from the Viterbi School of Engineering

Lecture Series

Published on March 2nd, 2017

Last updated on August 1st, 2023