Cook Foundation pledges $500,000 to modernize engineering labs

The initial $100,000 gift will be used to purchase equipment and renovate laboratories used for structural, geotechnical, construction, environmental, and water resources engineering instruction. The group of laboratories will be known as the Kelly Gene Cook Sr. Laboratories in Civil Engineering.

The remaining $400,000 will build the endowment to produce income for annual maintenance and improvement of the Cook Labs. All equipment and renovation should be in place by the end of the fall semester.

"In a time when the College of Engineering and the university rely so heavily on private contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations to sustain and build their programs, this generous donation will allow the Department of Civil Engineering to keep pace technologically," said engineering dean Robert Altenkirch.

In 1990, the Cook Foundation established the Kelly Gene Cook Sr. Chair in Civil Engineering with a $1 million gift in memory of the 1955 Mississippi State civil engineering graduate.

Cook, an Attala County native who died in 1989, was an oil and gas pipeline industry executive in Houston, Texas, for more than 30 years.

In 1986, Kelly Cook and his wife, Peggy, formed the Kelly Gene Cook Sr. Charitable Foundation, which provides funds to support religious, charitable, scientific, and educational organizations. The foundation has provided numerous full scholarships to Mississippi State students.