300,000 Jobs! Lone Star College oil & gas to EMI

HOUSTON – As the oil and gas and manufacturing booms occur in the Houston region, the area is expected to have nearly 300,000 job openings in the "middle-skills" occupations within the next three years.

Seeking to fill the void,  the Lone Star College System is opening its new $20 million 70,000-sf Energy and Manufacturing Institute (EMI) in August. The EMI is located in northwestern Houston at Lone Star’s University Park campus.

Construction was largely completed this spring, but it will not fully open until August.

Incoming Lone Star College System Chancellor Steve Head said most of the EMI students will go through academic and training programs at Lone Star’s North Harris and Cy-Fair campuses.

Students will then receive "higher level" training at the EMI, which features 28 classrooms and labs, as well as industrial training spaces, one of which is shared with Houston-based FMC Technologies Inc.