Work at UH Has Implications for Subsea Design and Operations

A team of researchers from the University of Houston is working with the oil industry to develop new ways to predict when an offshore drilling rig is at risk for a potentially catastrophic accident.

Ramanan Krishnamoorti, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering, was recently elected as a Fellow of the Neutron Scattering Society of America (NSSA). He was one of only 11 NSSA fellows elected this year. 

Ramanan Krishnamoorti, acting vice president/vice chancellor for research and technology transfer at the University of Houston, has been asked to testify before Congress about an innovative workforce training program developed for the energy industry.

Krishnamoorti, who also is chief energy officer at UH, Thursday will address the Energy and Power subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Students from the Houston Independent School District’s new Energy Institute High School, a magnet school for energy careers, spent Wedneasday, August 6, at the University of Houston for an introduction to renewable energy, sponsored by UH Energy.  The camp closed with students building solar-powered cars and racing them on a track behind the University’s Athletics/Alumni Center.

Each spring, the University of Houston recognizes exceptional faculty member across the university at the annual UH Faculty Excellence Awards Ceremony. This year, nine Cullen College of Engineering faculty members were honored for their great strides in teaching and research excellence.

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.

For all their virtues, electric vehicles have two major drawbacks: their cost – usually tens of thousands of dollars more than comparable gasoline-powered cars – and how far they can travel on a single charge.

The University of Houston -- and particularly the Cullen College of Engineering -- have taken bold and progressive steps in partnering with local industry and taking advantage of the university's location in the "Energy Capital of the World." Now, the University of Houston Bauer College of Business will follow suit by offering a new interdisciplinary Energy

Offshore oil production is an exercise in extremes. Widely varying temperatures, very high pressures and extremely corrosive seawater – all are challenges that producers must tackle when drilling and installing wells in ultra-deep water offshore.

Add to this list the basic inaccessibility of the wells themselves. With the top of these wells often sitting thousands of feet under water, monitoring their overall health is another major challenge.