Ramanan Krishnamoorti, professor of petroleum engineering and chemical and biomolecular engineering as well as Chief Energy Officer at the University of Houston, has been named one of the city’s top energy professionals by the Houston Business Journal.
Krishnamoorti made the journal’s annual “Who’s Who in Energy” list, which recognizes the “movers and shakers” in the energy capital of the world. He shares the honor with top executives from many of the largest energy firms in the world, including several members of the UH Energy Advisory Board: Bernard Duroc-Danner, chairman, president and CEO of Weatherford International; Badar Khan, President and CEO of Direct Energy; Elizabeth Killinger, president of NRG Texas Retail and president of Reliant; David McClanahan, president and CEO of CenterPoint Energy; John Minge, chairman and president of BP America; and Marvin Odum, president of Shell Oil Company.
As UH’s chief energy officer, Krishnamoorti oversees the university’s strategic plan for all energy-related education, training and research. One of his biggest duties is the development of UH’s Energy Research Park (ERP), a 74-acre campus designed to bring academia and industry together to solve the world’s most pressing energy-related challenges. The park has received millions of dollars in support from energy firms for the creation of cutting-edge facilities and programs. Krishnamoorti has been a central figure in forming ERP-based collaborations and partnerships between the university and industry researchers. He is now in discussions with additional firms in the energy sector about partnering with UH at the ERP, which has several thousand square feet of office and research space available for use.
On the educational front, Krishnamoorti plays a key role in the highly successful Petroleum Engineering Program (started during his time as chairman of chemical and biomolecular engineering), as well as the recently created Energy and Sustainability minor. He’s also helping to oversee the Subsea Engineering Program’s move toward online course offerings. With the only subsea engineering program in the nation and one of the few worldwide, offering online education in subsea engineering will cement UH as a global leader in this emerging discipline.
Most recently, Krishnamoorti served as UH’s representative in a partnership with Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin to form the Ocean Energy Safety Institute. The group won a competitive five-year, $5 million grant from the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to establish the institute. It will serve as a platform for industry, academia and government to conduct research and communicate on the safest and most efficient methods and technologies for retrieving offshore resources.
“Houston is the energy capital of the world. There are hundreds if not thousands of people here who play a key role in the sector, so being named one of the top energy professionals in this city is a great honor,” Krishnamoorti said. “UH is already home to outstanding energy research and educational programs. As we expand these efforts and build new industry partnerships through the Energy Research Park, we will clearly show that UH is one of the top universities for energy in world.”