Dr. Philip Cole named Executive Director of the Center for Midstream Management and Science

Dr. Philip Cole has been named Executive Director of the Center for Midstream Management and Science (CMMS) at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. Prior to accepting this position on Feb. 1, 2025, Dr. Cole had been the Chair of Physics since July 2017, when he joined Lamar University from Idaho State University. CMMS, along with the Center for Advances in Port Management (CAPM) and the Center for Resiliency (CfR), comprise the three Lamar University Signature Centers. 

Dr. Cole brings extensive experience in fundamental and applied research to the role of Executive Director of CMMS.  Dr. Cole received his Ph.D. in Experimental Nuclear Physics from Purdue University and his bachelor’s degree in physics from Cornell University.  He has received several honors for his research and mentorship, including the Purdue Tautfest Award for the Ph.D. student showing outstanding promise in particle physics (1991), the prestigious NSF CAREER Award in Nuclear Physics in 1999, Advisor of the Year (2002) for the Society of Physics Students, Fulbright Scholar Award to Germany in 2014/2015, and the Fundamental Physics Innovation Award in 2019 from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Dr. Cole’s background in nuclear physics provides a solid base from which to conduct midstream oil and gas research as Executive Director of CMMS. Since joining Lamar University in 2017, Dr. Cole’s research interests have turned to the many unsolved problems in methane-leak detection from buried pipelines, as evidenced by several of his funded research projects focused on the midstream sector over the past several years.

Since arriving at Lamar, Dr. Cole has developed a research agenda focused on identifying methane leaks from ruptured pipelines through exploring new ideas in optical, leak sensing detectors, and acoustical methods. To understand the characteristics of methane leaks, he has initiated a research program from scratch. The Lamar CMMS team is experimentally identifying methane leaks in real-world environments. In building this area of research, Lamar’s CMMS team has chosen real-life experiments over paper studies as Mother Nature is the final arbiter of all things physical. It is only after taking the empirical real-world measurements that researchers can embark on sophisticated mathematical analyses and new ideas for better detectors.

It is Dr. Cole’s intention as Executive Director of CMMS to bring new directions to the science and engineering of detecting methane from ruptured pipelines. On average, the loss of methane is 1% per year, and mitigating this loss would have a great impact on the economy of Texas and the nation by serving to maximize throughput, enhance safety, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We have just established a well-appointed laboratory in the Science and Technology Building on the campus of Lamar University for studying methane migration in Southeast Texas soils as a start. 

On March 4, 2025, Dr. Cole presented Seeing and Hearing Methane Emissions from Buried Pipelines in the Midstream Sector at the Pipeline Research Council International’s 2025 Research Exchange (REX2025), which convened in Houston, Texas.   There were approximately 60 speakers and over 550 participants from across the pipeline industry throughout North American, Europe, and Asia. The presentation and the associated paper can be found here and click on the button Talks and Papers. The paper is authored by Lamar’s midstream team of professors, industrial contacts, graduate students, and undergraduate researchers. The paper further delineates CMMS’ near-term goals, which include new methodologies of methane-leak detection from buried pipelines, remediation of soils from methane leaks, pursuing collaborative partnerships with local industries, academia, and state agencies, as well as workforce training programs in the midstream sector.

Moving forward, CMMS will hold regular workshops and conferences at Lamar University on major issues related to the midstream sector. 

“Our goal is to bring experts from across industry and academia to identify and find solutions to any failure points in transporting products,” Cole said. “Our inaugural workshop will be in October. We seek to elevate the profile of CMMS at Lamar University within the pipeline industry for the safe and reliable delivery of natural gas in Texas.”

Cole further states "With the Golden Triangle LNG infrastructure and having the fourth largest port in the nation, Lamar University is at the right place and the right time. We have a bright future.  For the longer term, CMMS will establish a dedicated testbed facility for methane-transport and methane-leakage studies on a few acres of land."

As Executive Director, Dr. Cole will work to strengthen Lamar’s connections with industry and the local community, heighten CMMS’ profile as a center for midstream science and research, seek significant external funding, and coordinate graduate thesis projects and undergraduate research across the broad spectrum of STEM fields at Lamar University.