"I am an Aggie Petroleum Engineer."

Six simple words printed in Aggie maroon and proudly displayed on a baseball cap in an office on the second floor of the Wisenbaker Engineering Research Center. That may not sound extraordinary to some but anyone who knows the man under the cap knows the pride, character and commitment to excellence deeply ingrained in a storied career that spans both industry and academia over a period of 39 years. After 39 years, that man has decided to retire.

Two short years ago, in January 2011, Dr. Stephen A. Holditch became the Director of the Texas A&M Energy Institute. The Institute's staff consisted of five employees, none of whom knew Dr. Holditch very well. That changed quickly as he engaged the staff and expressed his vision and goals for the Institute. Our initial uncertainty was rapidly replaced with respect and admiration for our new director who was at the same time direct and to-the-point while always kind and willing to listen.

His many years of experience in the academic world and in the fast-paced, highly competitive oil & gas industry made him the ideal leader for an entity that had to learn how to successfully bring together both sides in order to develop and globally deploy the brilliant energy research being conducted at Texas A&M. John Pappas, EI's associate director noted, "Steve brought new energy, vision and focus - and the impact of his efforts quickly paid off. Since Holditch arrived, we have won significant new projects in materials, wind, and water reclamation and the start he gave us will propel Texas A&M towards the growth in interdisciplinary energy research that is the reason for EI's existence."

Stephen A. Holditch earned the title of "Dr. Holditch" in 1976 when he graduated with a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University (he also holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M). He began working on his Ph.D. while on leave from Shell Oil Company in January 1974. His intent was to rejoin Shell afterwards, but that didn't happen. After earning his degree, Holditch was offered a position as Assistant Professor and he joined the faculty of the Petroleum Engineering Department. The rest, as they say, is history.

The next year, Dr. Holditch started a consulting firm, S. A. Holditch and Associates, Inc. which grew to 70 employees in five offices and had a worldwide reputation for being able to solve the most difficult petroleum engineering problems. The company thrived in the up and down oil and gas business environment of the 1980s and 1990s. Schlumberger acquired the company in 1997 and adopted the S. A. Holditch and Associates culture in the elements of Schlumberger that were focused on reservoir analysis.

Dr. Holditch was a Schlumberger Fellow from 1999-2004, the highest rung on Schlumberger's technical career ladder. At the time, there were only nine Fellows out of over 10,000 professional employees.

Holditch "retired" from Schlumberger in 2004 to return to Texas A&M as the Head of the Petroleum Engineering department (PETE), a position he held until January 2012. During Dr. Holditch's tenure, the number of students in PETE more than doubled. "Steve Holditch has been an extremely successful manager throughout his career, and I have tried for the last several years to understand how he does this by observing his interactions with faculty and staff. It finally dawned on me that Steve almost never says no - when a faculty, staff, or student requested something, no matter how outlandish it might seem, instead of saying no, he works on finding a solution to whatever problem has been posed. This may lead to a solution that is completely different than what the requestor had in mind, but this approach is very effective because he is always listening to those who work for him. We can all learn a great deal from Steve's management style," said Dan Hill '74, Department Head, Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University.

Dr. Holditch was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 1995, the highest professional honor for an engineer. Out of the millions of practicing engineers in the United States, there are fewer than 2,000 members of the NAE.

Holditch was the President of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) in 2002, a global organization with over 70,000 members. In total, he spent six years on the SPE Board of Directors - as Vice President of Finance for three years and in the Presidential rotation for three years. Holditch traveled the globe for six years for SPE, giving speeches and representing oil and gas technology.

"When I was a student in Steve's Production Engineering class many years ago, I never thought that the professor who seemed so intimidating to me at the time would someday become a good friend. Steve was SPE's President in 2002, my first year as the Executive Director. As SPE President, Steve started a number of new initiatives, including the opening of SPE's Middle East office, a public energy education program, and a certification program for petroleum engineers. Success has a thousand fathers, and I have always been amazed at the number of people who have taken credit for the programs that Steve initiated during his term as SPE President. Personally, I appreciated his efforts to guide me in my new role while he was President, as well as his support and friendship over the years," remarked Mark A. Rubin '81, Executive Director, SPE.

Dr. Holditch has received the top three technical awards given by SPE, the Anthony F. Lucas Technical Leadership Gold Medal, the John Franklin Carll Distinguished Professional Award, and the Lester C. Uren Technical Excellence Award. He was elected an SPE Honorary Member in 2006, the highest honor that SPE presents to an individual and is limited to 0.1% of the SPE membership. It is awarded to individuals who have given outstanding service to SPE or who have demonstrated distinguished scientific or engineering achievements in the fields within the technical scope of SPE.

In 2010, Dr. Holditch was honored as an Outstanding Graduate of the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. "Dr. Holditch should be credited with much of the advancement of our petroleum engineering program over the past number of years. Our industry partners and former students have the utmost respect for

Dr. Holditch and his contributions to the oil and gas industry. He has definitely been a great help to me and my efforts in gaining support for petroleum engineering," said Brady Bullard '95, Director of Development (Petroleum Engineering), Texas A&M Foundation.

The Dr. Stephen A. Holditch '69 Department Head Chair in Petroleum Engineering was established in August 2012. The chair honors the service of an outstanding leader in petroleum engineering. The chair was established as the result of the efforts of many Aggie petroleum engineering former students. "Steve Holditch has made an enormous contribution to the industry. He has been a tireless champion of the Petroleum Engineering Department, its students and the university. He has also consistently provided a credible voice to governments on issues important to the industry," said Mark W. Albers '79, Senior Vice President, ExxonMobil Corporation.

On January 31, 2013, Dr. Holditch will retire from Texas A&M University. While the list of accomplishments, achievements and accolades could continue for many more pages, suffice to say that Steve Holditch is the real deal. It has been a pleasure and an honor to work with him.

"This project represents an exceptional partnership between Texas universities and industry," said John Pappas, associate director of the Energy Institute and director of the Wind Energy Center. "The award recognizes Texas' continued leadership in wind and offshore energy production as well as its ability to innovate and bring real-world solutions to the market.

"The combined know-how and assets of Texas wind and offshore industries and its research universities, along with strong community support, uniquely positions this project for success."

Baryonyx brings first-hand experience in offshore wind development to GoWind. Its management team conceived, undertook environmental impact assessment, obtained permits and developed the industry-leading Ormonde project located off the west coast of the United Kingdom. Ormonde, an exemplar of the next generation of offshore wind farm development, is comprised of large capacity 5 MW turbines mounted on jacket structures. Baryonyx was also partnered then with Offshore Design Engineering Ltd, who ensured that Ormonde was delivered safely, on-time and on-budget.

Texas A&M's role in the project will include performing applied research in blade structure and design for hurricane conditions, developing advanced wind farm control algorithms, support resource, environmental and geotechnical survey and analyses, and developing comparative economic models.

The university team led by the Wind Energy Center includes Texas A&M's Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M's Department of Aerospace Engineering as well as The University of Texas at Austin's Center for Electromechanics and Civil Engineering Department, Texas Tech University's National Wind Resource Center, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi's Conrad Blucher Institute and The University of Texas at Brownsville's School of Business and Department of Environmental Sciences.

The GoWind Project's wind farm will bring more power to an underserved area without the need for new long-distance transmission. The technologies developed and demonstrated will increase the output capability of the wind farm, facilitate grid integration, and decrease operations and maintenance costs to help allow continued growth of Texas' wind power industry in a time of uncertainty over the production tax credit.

Subsequent to the agreement of a contract with the DoE, the next key step for the GoWind project will be to initiate the environmental assessment studies under the supervision of the US Army Corps of Engineers. "The public consultation process for the project was recently completed by the USACE. Constructive feedback from many interested organizations and individuals was received and this information will be used to shape the assessment studies needed before a decision to install the GoWind demonstration project can be made" Baryonyx CEO Ian Hatton said.

For more information, contact John Pappas at 979-458-1644.

The role of research universities in nuclear science, energy and policy was the topic of a Texas A&M-sponsored panel and reception last week in Washington, D.C., where panelists and speakers recognized the importance of higher education to ensuring the U.S. remains a global leader in nuclear research and development (R&D). The event was co-sponsored by Texas A&M University, the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), and the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based policy organization for the nuclear technologies industry.

Panelists included researchers from Texas A&M, University of California, Berkeley and University of Wisconsin-Madison. U.S. Representative William H. "Bill" Flores (R-Texas) and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman delivered remarks at the post-panel reception.

Full article: http://tamutimes.tamu.edu/2012/12/20/d-c-panel-reception-showcase-importance-of-texas-am-nuclear-science-and-policy-expertise-to-nation/.

With a generous donation of $40,000 from ConocoPhillips, the Energy Institute awarded eight fellowships to support outstanding graduate students doing energy research.  Over 40 applicants from 16 departments were nominated for this competitive award.  The award recipients are known as "Energy Institute Fellows."

Each month, a Fellow will be featured in the highlights section of News Briefs.  This month's featured Fellow is Vanita Negandhi, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Architecture.

Vanita's research project is entitled "Operational Control Strategies for Hybrid Hydronic HVAC Systems in Hot, Humid Climates."  For a brief abstract of Vanita's research, click here.   

To see the complete listing of EI Fellows, visit our web site at http://energy.tamu.edu.

You keep hearing about all of the energy research going on around Texas A&M University but do you know who is doing the research? That information, and more, can be found on the Energy Institute's web site at our new web address energy.tamu.edu.

Currently, there are nearly 150 faculty researchers listed by research area - Bioenergy, Electric Power, Energy Efficiency, Geothermal, Nuclear, Oil & Gas, Solar and Wind. Clicking on the desired research area will take you to a page specific to that area. Once there, click on the "Faculty Expertise" tab which will direct you to a listing of all of the faculty members doing research in that area and their areas of expertise.

If you are involved in energy research at Texas A&M University and are not listed on the EI web site and would like to be, please contact Robyn Pearson at rlpearson@tamu.edu.