EI's Industry Advisory Board held their spring meeting on April 12, 2012 in the new Emerging Technologies Building on the Texas A&M University campus.  The meeting was attended by a majority of board members and various EI partners. 

EI Director, Steve Holditch, gave a brief "state of the Institute" and updated the group on the various projects and activities that the Institute is currently involved in.  Much of the discussion centered around the Institute's five focus areas - natural gas demand, wind energy, water energy nexus, bioenergy and electricity - and the best way forward in each area.

Steve Holditch, EI Director, was the featured speaker at a joint meeting of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) and the South Central Texas Chapter of the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA). The meeting, held April 10 in San Antonio, TX, included attendees from military, civil service, city government and commercial sectors.

Dr. Holditch's presentation entitled "Hydraulic Fracturing - What is it?  How can we do it safely?" is available online at the SAME website.

The Texas A&M Energy Club was pleased to host a screening of the acclaimed documentary SWITCH, an Arcos Films production (http://www.switchenergyproject.com/). The screening was held on April 19th at Rudder Theater with just over 160 attendees.

The documentary featured a pragmatic view of the world's energy landscape in an easily understood commentary by Dr. Scott Tinker, Director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Tinker traveled to some of the world's leading energy sites, from coal to solar and oil to biofuels, and discussed the realities of energy today, including the challenge of transitioning to alternative energy sources.

The screening served as a finale of the Energy Club's 2011-12 events and the members were pleased at the alignment of the documentary with their own year-long quest to bring in speakers to demystify big energy questions.

Regents Professor and Director of the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center at Texas A&M University, M. Sam Mannan, has been honored with the title of Guest Professor by China's Nanjing University of Technology.

While visiting Nanjing University to take part in formal recognition ceremonies, Mannan delivered a presentation titled "Society's Choices" to the faculty of safety engineering and discussed the Columbia disaster with undergraduate students in safety engineering. 

Nanjing University of Science and Technology was founded in 1953 and is one of the first groups of national key universities. Composed of 26 colleges and serving nearly 30,000 students, including overseas students, undergraduates and master's and doctoral degree candidates, Nanjing emphasizes outreach and collaboration with universities throughout the world in an effort to promote cooperative agreements and exchange programs.

Holder of the T. Michael O'Connor Chair I in Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Mannan is a professional engineer and certified safety professional. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers, International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration and National Fire Protection Association.

In addition to his many professional honors and achievements, Mannan has provided testimony on multiple occasions to Congress and served as a consultant to numerous entities in both the academic and private sectors, including the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.