Power Across Texas 2015 Energy Innovation Challenge Culminates at Texas Capitol

AUSTIN, Texas, May 1, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Texas Energy Innovation Challenge (TEIC), the signature program of Power Across Texas, culminated with presentations and judging today at the Texas Capitol. This is the third bi-annual, semester-long competition in which graduate students from inter-disciplinary academic programs at five major Texas universities are challenged to bring research and imagination to help solve an existing energy problem in Texas.

Student teams were challenged to research, evaluate and develop the most creative and economic use for water produced from hydraulic fracturing of wells, whether that solution includes recycling, disposal or discharge.

The results and scholarship prizes are as follows:

1^st Place- The University of Houston ($10,000)
2^nd Place- Texas Tech University ($7,500)
3^rd Place- The University of Texas at Austin ($5,000)
4^th Place- The University of Texas at El Paso ($3,000)
5^th Place- Texas A&M University ($1,500)

Each team presented both a written proposal and an oral presentation with their solutions to a panel of judges, including: Kym Bolado, Karen Bondy, Mark Ellison, Brent Halldorson, Marilu Hastings, Omar Garcia and John Tintera.

Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Christi Craddick, member of the 2015 Steering Committee, delivered opening remarks. Fellow Steering Committee member and Texas Railroad Commissioner David Porter also attended the event.

"Oil and gas is the backbone of the Texas economy, and I'm pleased to see that young Texans are working to find innovative, practical real-world solutions to pressing energy issues, like water," Porter said. "The future of Texas looks even brighter thanks to these young adults."

The event was also attended by 2015 Steering Committee members: Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton and  Senator Charles Perry, Chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Water and Rural Affairs Committee. 

Special thanks to our sponsors: Texas Water Recycling Association, The Mitchell Foundation, Lower Colorado River Authority, Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative, STW Resources, McGarrah Jessee, South Texas Energy & Economic Roundtable and Shale Oil and Gas Business Magazine.

Power Across Texas is a 501(c)(3) statewide non-profit organization based in Austin, Texas. Power Across Texas (PAT) draws from academic, political and private sector resources to host signature initiatives and events that: help advance tangible solutions to critical energy issues.

CONTACT: Lyda Creus Molanphy –or– Katie Carmichael
512-751-1636 / 214-289-7813
[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE Power Across Texas

Related Links

www.poweracrosstexas.org