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Howdy!
Welcome to the December issue of News Briefs, the Texas A&M Energy Institute's e-newsletter. News Briefs is intended to keep you informed about all the good things going on in energy research at EI and Texas A&M University as well as state, national and international energy-related news that affects all of us.
If you have any questions, comments or ideas for future issues, please contact Lisa Groce at 979.458.1644 or tamuenergy@pe.tamu.edu.
Thank you and Gig 'em!
Steve Holditch
Director, EI |
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DOE Natural Gas Subcommittee Releases Final Report | |
The Natural Gas Subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board issued its final report, "Improving the Safety & Environmental Performance of Hydraulic Fracturing," on November 18, 2011.
Dr. Steve Holditch, director of the Texas A&M Energy Institute, was a member of the subcommittee convened by U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu in May of 2011. "The reports have been well-received by energy companies, environmental groups and government regulators. Some states, like Colorado, have begun implementing our recommendations. Many oil and gas companies are also planning to implement the recommendations," stated Dr. Holditch.
The subcommittee was charged with the task of making recommendations to improve the safety and environmental performance of natural gas hydraulic fracturing from shale formations.
For more information about the subcommittee's work, click here. |
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Ellison Presenter at TEEX's Growing Green Communities Conference |
Mark Ellison, director of Corporate Relations for the Texas A&M Energy Institute, served as moderator of a session during the Growing Green Communities Conference held in Austin November 14-16. The session, entitled Green Workforce Development, included speakers Dr. John Galiotos (TREEC Director, Houston Community College), Hector Aguilar (Austin Community College) and Dr. Tina Marie Cade (Texas State University).
The Growing Green conference series and website are produced by the Texas Engineering Extension Service's (TEEX) Knowledge Engineering Division under a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration. The grant, "Communicating, Collaborating and Innovating towards Sustainable Development," intends to bring sustainable economic development opportunities to rural communities through conferences and other means of information sharing.
To learn more about the conference, speakers (bios and presentations) and plans for the next conference, visit the website at http://www.growinggreencommunities.com/.
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Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Receives Inaugural IEEE PES Scholarship | |
Stephen McConnell, a senior in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, received the inaugural Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Power and Energy Society (PES) Scholarship Plus Initiative Award.
McConnell was among the first 93 students to receive the award. They were selected from 51 universities in the United States for the 2011-2012 academic year. The scholarships were distributed through the IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Fund, which is being used to support the IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative. These undergraduate students were selected by industry and academic representatives based primarily upon: academic preparation; extra-curricular activities and leadership; interest in engineering in general, and power and energy engineering in particular; and overall assessment of student's potential for a successful power and energy engineering career.
To read the complete article, click here. |
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Civil Engineering Professor Receives Two-Year, $400,000 DOE Award | |
Moo-Hyun Kim (Professor, Department of Civil Engineering) received a two-year, $400,000 research grant from the US Department of Energy's (DOE) "US Offshore Wind Technology Development Program". Dr. Kim will develop a dynamic mooring-anchor analysis program for a floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT).
The award was one of 41 offshore wind power R&D projects that received funding totalling $43 million as part of a coordinated federal strategy to put the nation's wind resources to work and support innovation and jobs throughout the United States.
The projects represent investments in more than 160 universities, labs and businesses in 20 states, which will bring offshore wind to market in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Southeast. The awards also provide manufacturers, developers, academics and researchers opportunities to explore market growth in offshore wind, technology innovation and modeling for the design of next generation turbines.
To read the press release from DOE, follow this link. |
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2011 International Process Safety Symposium Draws Record Attendance | |
Featuring an impassioned address on the nation's energy policy by former Congressman and leading authority on national security Lee H. Hamilton, the 14th annual symposium "Beyond Regulatory Compliance, Making Safety Second Nature," drew record attendance this year.
More than 500 participants from industry and academia attended the symposium, which is sponsored by the Texas A&M University System Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center and serves as the crossroads for process safety.
In addition to Hamilton's keynote address, nearly 100 presentations were given on various safety-related topics, including safety culture/ operational discipline, incident analysis, process management for safety, and consequence analysis. The symposium also featured exhibits from two dozen companies that demonstrated products, technology and software related to process safety.
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The Energy Institute (EI) is addressing the world's energy challenges through research, development and deployment. The Institute matches researchers and world-class facilities with internal and external partners to define and solve energy problems and turn those solutions into useful global products. |
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Happy Holidays from the Energy Institute |  |
The staff of the Texas A&M Energy Institute wishes you and yours a very happy holiday season and a prosperous 2012!
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| Contact us | |
Texas A&M Energy Institute
3372 TAMU
244 Wisenbaker
College Station, TX 77843
979.458.1644 |
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