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University of Houston selected for DOE-backed energy storage innovation initiative

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The University of Houston has joined the Energy Storage Research Alliance, one of two DOE-backed energy innovation hubs. Photo via Getty Images

The University of Houston was selected for a new energy storage initiative from the United States Department of Energy.

UH is part of the Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA), which is one of the two energy innovation hubs that the DOE is creating with $125 million. The DOE will provide up to $62.5 million in ESRA funding over a span of five years.

“To fuel innovation and cultivate a sustainable and equitable energy future, all universities, government entities, industry and community partners have to work together,” Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president for energy and innovation at UH, says in a news release. “No one person or entity can achieve all this by themselves. As the Energy University and a Carnegie-designated Tier One research university, located in Houston — a center of diverse talent and experience from across the energy industry — UH has a unique advantage of continuing to build on Houston’s global leadership and demonstrating solutions at scale.

The hubs will attempt to address battery challenges and encourage next-generation innovation, which include safety, high-energy density and long-duration batteries. The batteries will be made from inexpensive, abundant materials, per the release.

The work that will be done at ESRA and other hubs can optimize renewable energy usage, reduce emissions, enhance grid reliability, and assist in growing electric transportation, and other clean energy solutions.

ESRA will bring in 50 researchers from three national laboratories and 12 other universities, including UH. The deputy lead of the soft matter scientific thrust and the principal investigator for UH’s portion of the project will be Yan Yao. Yao is the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor at the UH Cullen College of Engineering and principal investigator at the Texas Center for Superconductivity.

UH professor Yan Yao will lead the school's participation in the program. Photo via UH.edu

ESRA will focus on three interconnected scientific thrusts and how they work together: liquids, soft matter, and condensed matter phases. Yao and his team have created next-generation batteries using low-cost organic materials. The team previously used quinones that can be synthesized from plants and food like soybeans to increase energy density, electrochemical stability and safety in the cathode. Yao’s team were the first to make solid-state sodium batteries by using multi-electron conformal organic cathodes. The cathodes had a demonstrated record of recharging stability of 500 charging cycles.

Robert A. Welch Assistant Professor of electrical and computer engineering at UH Pieremanuele Canepa, will serve as co-PI. Both will investigate phase transitions in multi-electron redox materials and conformable cathodes to enable solid-state batteries by “marrying Yao’s experimental lab work with Canepa’s expertise in computational material science,” according to the release.

Joe Powell, founding director of the UH Energy Transition Institute and a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, will create a community benefit plan and develop an energy equity course.

“New energy infrastructure and systems can have benefits and burdens for communities,” Powell says in the release. “Understanding potential issues and partnering to develop best solutions is critical. We want everyone to be able to participate in the new energy economy and benefit from clean energy solutions.”

This project will be led by Argonne National Laboratory and co-led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” adds Yao. “To collaborate with world-class experts to understand and develop new science and make discoveries that will lead to the next generation of batteries and energy storage concepts, and potentially game changing devices is exciting. It’s also a great opportunity for our students to learn from and work with top scientists in the country and be part of cutting-edge research.”

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Some of the key takeaways include strategies that include partnering for success, hands-on training programs, flexible education pathways, comprehensive support services, and early and ongoing outreach initiatives. Photo via Getty Images

New report maps Houston workforce development strategies as companies transition to cleaner energy

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The University of Houston’s Energy University latest study with UH’s Division of Energy and Innovation with stakeholders from the energy industry, academia have released findings from a collaborative white paper, titled "Workforce Development for the Future of Energy.”

UH Energy’s workforce analysis found that the greatest workforce gains occur with an “all-of-the-above” strategy to address the global shift towards low-carbon energy solutions. This would balance electrification and increased attention to renewables with liquid fuels, biomass, hydrogen, carbon capture, utilization and storage commonly known as CCUS, and carbon dioxide removal, according to a news release.

The authors of the paper believe this would support economic and employment growth, which would leverage workers from traditional energy sectors that may lose jobs during the transition.

The emerging hydrogen ecosystem is expected to create about 180,000 new jobs in the greater Houston area, which will offer an average annual income of approximately $75,000. Currently, 40 percent of Houston’s employment is tied to the energy sector.

“To sustain the Houston region’s growth, it’s important that we broaden workforce participation and opportunities,” Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president of energy and innovation at UH, says in a news release. “Ensuring workforce readiness for new energy jobs and making sure we include disadvantaged communities is crucial.”

Some of the key takeaways include strategies that include partnering for success, hands-on training programs, flexible education pathways, comprehensive support services, and early and ongoing outreach initiatives.

“The greater Houston area’s journey towards a low-carbon future is both a challenge and an opportunity,” Krishnamoorti continues. “The region’s ability to adapt and lead in this new era will depend on its commitment to collaboration, innovation, and inclusivity. By preparing its workforce, engaging its communities, and leveraging its industrial heritage, we can redefine our region and continue to thrive as a global energy leader.”

The study was backed by federal funding from the Department of the Treasury through the State of Texas under the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012.

The projects are among 16 other early-stage research projects at U.S. colleges and universities to receive a total of $17.4 million from the DOE's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. Photo courtesy of University of Houston

3 Houston energy projects land $17.4M in federal funding for early-stage research

grants granted

Three projects from the University of Houston have been awarded funds from the U.S. Department of Energy for research on decarbonization and emissions.

The projects are among 16 other early-stage research projects at U.S. colleges and universities to receive a total of $17.4 million from the DOE's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM).

“These three projects show the relevance and quality of the research at UH and our commitment to making a meaningful impact by addressing society’s needs and challenges by doing critical work that impacts the real world,” Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president for energy and innovation at UH, says in a statement. “The success of these project could attract investment, create jobs, produce clean energy, save costs, reduce carbon emissions, and benefit not only the greater Houston area, but the Gulf Coast and beyond.”

The projects were selected under FECM’s University Training and Research program, which aims to support "research and development opportunities for traditionally underrepresented communities and tap into the innovative and diverse thinking of student researchers," according to an announcement from the DOE.

Here are the projects from UH and their funding amounts:

A Comprehensive Roadmap for Repurposing Offshore Infrastructure for Clean Energy Projects in the Gulf of Mexico, $749,992 — Led by Ram Seetharam, UH Energy program officer, this project looks at ways to prolong the life of platforms, wells and pipelines in the Gulf Coast and will create a plan "covering technical, social, and regulatory aspects, as well as available resources," according to UH.

Houston Hydrogen Transportation Pilot, $750,000— Led by Christine Ehlig-Economides, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen, and managed by Joe Powell, this project will demonstrate the potential for a hydrogen refueling pilot in Houston. The first phase will create a system to optimize hydrogen and the second will create a workforce training network. The project is in collaboration with Prairie View A&M University.

Synergizing Minority-Serving Institution Partnerships for Carbon-Negative Geologic Hydrogen Production, $1.5 million — This project is in collaboration with Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and Texas Tech. The project will create a visiting scholars program for students from UH and TTU, who will spend one month per year at Stanford for three years. While in the program, students will focus on creating carbon-negative hydrogen from rocks beneath the Earth's surface. Kyung Jae Lee, associate professor in the Department of Petroleum Engineering at UH, is working alongside colleagues at TTU and Stanford on this project.

Other projects in the group come from the University of Texas at El Paso, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Tennessee State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Duke University and more.

Last year the DOE also awarded $2 million to Harris and Montgomery counties for projects that improve energy efficiency and infrastructure in the region. Click here to read about those projects.

The DOE also granted more than $10 million in funding to four carbon capture projects with ties to Houston last summer.

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

Two UH-affiliated organizations scored DOE funding for advancing superconductivity projects. Photo courtesy of UH

University of Houston pockets $5M in DOE funding for superconductivity projects

taking on tape

A program within the U.S. Department of Energy has deployed $10 million into three projects working on superconducting tape innovation. Two of these projects are based on research from the University of Houston.

The DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, issued the funding through its Novel Superconducting Technologies for Conductors Exploratory Topic. Superconductivity — found only in certain materials — is a focus point for the DOE because it allows for the conduction of direct electric current without resistance or energy loss.

The demand for HTS, or high-temperature superconducting, tapes has risen as the country moves toward net-zero energy, driving up the cost of the materials, which are manufactured outside of the U.S. Here's where the DOE wants to help.

“If we can improve superconductors and manufacture them here in the United States, we can ultimately speed up the energy transition through enabling cost savings, faster production, and improved capability,” ARPA-E Director Evelyn N. Wang says in the DOE press release. “The teams [selected] will all pursue ARPA-E’s mission to lower emissions, bolster national security, increase energy independence and improve energy efficiency through their critical research.”

Selva Research Group, a team from UH focused on scaling HTS tape production and led by Venkat Selvamanickam, M.D. Anderson Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Advanced Manufacturing Institute, received a $2 million grant.

“Even though our superconducting tape is three times better than today’s industry products, for us to be able to take it to full-scale commercialization, we need to produce it faster and at a lower cost while maintaining its high quality,” Selvamanickam says in a UH press release. “This funding is to address this challenge and it’s an important step forward towards commercialization of our technology.”

The other UH-based team is MetOx Technologies, which secured $3 million in funding to support the advancement of its proprietary manufacturing technology for its HTS wire. Co-founded in 1998 by Alex Ignatiev, UH professor emeritus of physics and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, who also serves as the company’s chief science officer, MetOx plans to open its new manufacturing facility by the end of the year.

“This ARPA-E funding not only allows MetOx to advance its HTS wire fabrication process that I developed at UH, but also signifies the DOE’s recognition that MetOx is important,” Ignatiev says in the release. “The cost-effective HTS product that MetOx is developing at scale is critical to the national and global application of HTS for the world’s energy needs.”

The ARPA-E funding emphasizes the need for advancement of HTS tape innovation, and UH-affiliated groups receiving two of the three grants indicates the school is a leader in the space — something UH Vice President for Energy and Innovation Ramanan Krishnamoorti is proud of.

“These awards recognize the relevance and quality of the research at UH and our commitment to making a meaningful impact by addressing society’s needs and challenges by transitioning innovations out of research labs and into the real world,” Krishnamoorti says in the release.

High-temperature superconducting tapes have a high potential in the energy transition. Photo courtesy of UH

The PhD and doctoral students will each receive a one-year $12,000 fellowship, along with mentoring from experts at UH and Chevron. Photo via UH.edu

University of Houston names first group of Chevron-backed fellows

meet the chosen ones

The University of Houston has named eight graduate students to its first-ever cohort of UH-Chevron Energy Graduate Fellows.

The PhD and doctoral students will each receive a one-year $12,000 fellowship, along with mentoring from experts at UH and Chevron. Their work focuses on energy-related research in fields ranging from public policy to geophysics and math. The fellowship is funded by Chevron.

“The UH-Chevron Energy Fellowship program is an exciting opportunity for our graduate students to research the many critical areas that impact the energy industry, our communities and our global competitiveness,” Ramanan Krishnamoortil UH's Vice President for Energy and Innovation says in a statement.

“Today’s students not only recognize the importance of energy, but they are actively driving the push for affordable, reliable, sustainable and secure energy and making choices that clearly indicate that they are meaningfully contributing to the change,” he continues.

“We love that Chevron is sponsoring this group of fellows because it’s a fantastic way for us to get involved with the students who are working on some of the biggest problems we’ll face in society,” Chevron Technology Ventures President Jim Gable adds.

The 2023 UH-Chevron Energy Graduate Fellows are:

Kripa Adhikari, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the Cullen College of Engineering. Her work focuses on thermal regulation in enhanced geothermal systems. She currently works under the mentorship of Professor Kalyana Babu Nakshatrala and previously worked as a civil engineer with the Nepal Reconstruction Authority.

Aparajita Datta, a researcher at UH Energy and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science. Her work focuses on the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a redistributive welfare policy designed to help households pay their energy bills. She holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies in India, and master’s degrees in energy management and public policy from UH. She also recently worked on a paper for UH about transportation emissions.

Chirag Goel, a Ph.D. student in materials science and engineering at UH. His work focuses on using High Temperature Superconductors (HTS) to optimize manufacturing processes, which he says can help achieve carbon-free economies by 2050. The work has uses in renewable energy generation, electric power transmission and advanced scientific applications.

Meghana Idamakanti, a third-year Ph.D. student in the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Her work focuses on using electrically heated steam methane for cleaner hydrogen production. She received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in India in 2020 and previously worked as a process engineering intern at Glochem Industries in India.

Erin Picton, an environmental engineering Ph.D. student in the Shaffer Lab at UH. Her work focuses on ways to increase the sustainability of lithium processing and reducing wasted water and energy. “I love the idea of taking waste and turning it into value,” she said in a statement. She has previously worked in collaboration with MIT and Greentown Labs, as chief sustainability officer of a Houston-based desalination startup; and as a visiting graduate researcher at Argonne National Lab and at INSA in Lyon, France.

Mohamad Sarhan, a Ph.D. student and a teaching assistant in the Department of Petroleum Engineering. His work focuses on seasonal hydrogen storage and the stability of storage candidates during hydrogen cycling. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in petroleum engineering from Cairo University

Swapnil Sharma, a Ph.D. student in the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His work has been funded by the Department of Energy and focuses on thermal modeling of large-scale liquid hydrogen storage tanks. He works with Professor Vemuri Balakotaiah. He holds bachelor's and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). He also developed one of the world’s highest fiber-count optical fiber cables while working in India and founded CovRelief, which helped millions of Indians find resources about hospital beds, oxygen suppliers and more during the pandemic.

Larkin Spires, who's working on her doctoral research in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Her work focuses on a semi-empirical Brown and Korringa model for fluid substitution and the ties between geophysics and mathematics. She works under Professor John Castagna and holds a bachelor’s degree in math from Louisiana State University and a master’s degree in geophysics from UH.

Earlier this month Evolve Houston also announced its first-ever cohort of 13 microgrant recipients, whose work aims to make EVs and charging infrastructure more accessible in some of the city's more underserved neighborhoods.

The first phase of the Pelican Gulf Coast Carbon Removal project recently received nearly $4.9 million in grants. Photo via Getty Images

Louisiana DAC project supported by UH, Shell gets $4.9M in funding

closer look

The University of Houston is spilling details about its role in a potential direct air capture, or DAC, hub in Louisiana.

The first phase of the Pelican Gulf Coast Carbon Removal project recently received nearly $4.9 million in grants, including almost $3 million from the U.S. Department of Energy. Led by Louisiana State University, the Pelican consortium includes UH and Shell, whose U.S. headquarters is in Houston.

The funding will go toward studying the feasibility of a DAC hub that would pull carbon dioxide from the air and either store it in deep geological formations or use it to manufacture various products, such as concrete.

“This support of development and deployment of direct air capture technologies is a vital part of carbon management and allows us to explore sustainable technological and commercial opportunities,” Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president for energy and innovation at UH, says in a news release.

Chemical engineer Joseph Powell, founding executive director of the university’s Energy Transition Institute, will be the primary leader of UH’s work on the Pelican project.

“DAC can be an important technology for addressing difficult-to-decarbonize sectors such as aviation and marine transport as well as chemicals, or to achieve negative emissions goals,” Powell says.

Powell, a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, was Shell’s first-ever chief scientist for chemical engineering from 2006 until his retirement in 2020. He joined Shell in 1988.

Shell is the Pelican project’s “technical delivery partner.”

“Advancing carbon management technologies is a critical part of the energy transition, and effectively scaling this technology will require continued collaboration, discipline, and innovation,” says Adam Prince, general manager of carbon capture storage strategy and growth at Shell.

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Local energy innovators recognized at annual Houston Innovation Awards

the big winners

This week, the Houston innovation ecosystem celebrated big wins from the year, and members of the energy transition community were recognized alongside other innovators.

The Houston Innovation Awards honored over 40 finalists across categories, naming the 12 winners and honoring the two Trailblazer Legacy Awards at the event. The event, hosted at TMC Helix Park on November 14 named and celebrated the winners, which included four energy transition innovators.

Here's what energy leaders secured wins during the evening.

Corrolytics is a technology startup founded to solve microbiologically influenced corrosion problems for industrial assets. Co-founder and CEO Anwar Sadek says he's collected over $1 million in dilutive and non-dilutive funding from grants and other opportunities thanks to help from mentors. The company won both the Minority-Founded Business category and the People's Choice: Startup of the Year category.

"As a founder, I am always eager to assist and support fellow entrepreneurs, especially those navigating the unique challenges that come with being a BIPOC founder," he says. "With the guidance of mentors, I learned to master the complexities of the application process for grants and other funding opportunities. In turn, I actively share my experiences with other founders, helping them navigate similar paths."

Founded by CEO Cindy Taff, SageGeosystems is an energy company focused on developing and deploying advanced geothermal technologies to provide reliable power and sustainable energy storage solutions regardless of geography. The company secured the win in the Energy Transition Business category, alongside finalists Amperon, ARIX Technologies, Elementium Materials, InnoVent Renewables, and Tierra Climate.

"Sage Geosystems sets itself apart from competitors with its Geopressured Geothermal Systems, which can be deployed almost anywhere, unlike traditional geothermal technologies that require specific geographic conditions," Taff says. "This flexibility enables Sage to provide a reliable and virtually limitless power supply, making it ideal for energy-intensive applications like data centers."

A finalist in both the Investor of the Year and Ecosystem Builder categories, Juliana Garaizar is the founding partner of Energy Tech Nexus, invests with groups — such as Portfolia, Houston Angel Network, Business Angel Minority Association, and more — locally and beyond.

"I'm a hands on investor," she says. "I offer mentorship and industry and other investor connections. I take advisory roles and board observer seats."

This year, the Houston innovation community suffered the loss of two business leaders who left a significant impact on the ecosystem. Both individuals' careers were recognized with Trailblazer Legacy Awards.

One of the recipients was Scott Gale, executive director of Halliburton Labs, who received the award posthumously. He died on September 24. The award was decided on by the 2024 judges and InnovationMap. Gale was honored alongside Paul Frison, founder of the Houston Technology Center.

“I am immensely proud to honor these two remarkable individuals with the Trailblazer Award this year. It is fitting, as they represent two generations of building Houston’s ecosystem," 2023 Trailblazer Award recipient Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance and the associate vice president for industry and new ventures within Rice University's Office of Innovation, tells InnovationMap.

"Paul Frison was a pioneering leader who helped establish the Houston Technology Center and fostered the city’s tech ecosystem during the initial technology boom around the year 2000. Scott Gale, through his work at Halliburton Labs over the past five years, has been instrumental in launching Houston’s energy transition ecosystem," he continues. "Both have played pivotal roles in championing technology innovators.”

In honor of his son, Andrew Gale accepted the award with his daughter-in-law, Nicole, during the event.

Trending news: $450M fund closes, virtual power plant planned for Texas, and more in Houston energy

what's trending

Editor's note: From NRG's new virtual power plant plans to Pelican Energy Partners' $450 million fund announcement, these are the top headlines that resonated with EnergyCapital readers on social media and daily newsletter this week.

NRG Energy partners to launch Texas' largest AI-powered virtual power plant

NRG and Renew Home expect the virtual power plant program to arrive for Texas customers in spring of 2025. Photo via Getty Images

NRG Energy is partnering with a virtual power plant company to distribute hundreds of thousands of VPP-enabled smart thermostats by 2035 in an overall effort to improve the Texas grid's resiliency and help households manage and lower their energy costs.

Renew Home will create a nearly 1 gigawatt AI-powered VPP, which will be enabled by Google Cloud technology and be the largest AI-enabled VPP in Texas. NRG and Renew Home expect the VPP program to arrive for Texas customers in spring of 2025. Continue reading.

Houston PE firm unveils oversubscribed $450M fund to advance nuclear power innovation

Pelican Energy Partners has raised more than it intended with its new nuclear-focused fund. Photo via Getty Images

Houston-based private equity firm Pelican Energy Partners has raised a $450 million fund to invest in nuclear energy services and equipment companies.

Pelican had aimed to raise $300 million for Pelican Energy Partners Base Zero LP and had imposed an initial “hard cap” of $400 million. Investors include endowments, foundations, family offices, and pension plans.

As of the fund’s closing date, the fund had wrapped up six investments, with several more deals expected to close by the end of this year. Continue reading.

Houston-area solar farm to light up Texas with clean power for 15,000 homes

Recurrent Energy's Liberty Solar project near Houston is now operational, adding 134 megawatts of clean energy capacity to power 15,000 homes annually in the MISO market. Photo via recurrentenergy.com

A clean energy developer and operator of solar and energy storage assets has announced the completion and commercial operation of a Houston-area farm that will power 15,000 homes a year.

Recurrent Energy's Liberty Solar project outside of Houston has powered on and will expand solar energy capacity in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator market. Recurrent Energy is an Austin-based a subsidiary of Canadian Solar.

“Projects like Liberty Solar are instrumental to meeting the soaring demand for electricity in Texas,” Executive Director of Texas Solar Power Association Mark Stover says in a news release. "We commend Recurrent Energy for pushing through the development process and working with corporate buyers to deliver new, predictable, clean power to the MISO region of Texas.” Continue reading.

Unlocking climate tech’s potential in Houston: What health innovation's rise can teach us

If we can channel the same sense of urgency and public commitment toward climate change as we did for health crises in the past, climate tech could overcome its current obstacles. Photo via Getty Images

Over the past several decades, climate tech has faced numerous challenges, ranging from inconsistent public support to a lack of funding from cautious investors. While grassroots organizations and climate innovators have made notable efforts to address urgent environmental issues, we have yet to see large-scale, lasting impact.

A common tendency is to compare climate tech to the rapid advancements made in digital and software technology, but perhaps a more appropriate parallel is the health tech sector, which encountered many of the same struggles in its early days.

Observing the rise of health tech and the economic and political support it received, we can uncover strategies that could stabilize and propel climate tech forward. Continue reading.

Podcast: How this Houston energy tech startup transforms innovation into scalable success

Through Dsider’s techno-economic analysis platform, Sujatha Kumar is helping startups bridge the critical gap between vision and execution, ensuring they can navigate complex markets with confidence. Photo via LinkedIn

What if the future of clean energy wasn’t just about invention, but execution? For Sujatha Kumar, CEO of Dsider, success in clean tech hinges on more than groundbreaking technology—it’s about empowering founders with the tools to make their innovations viable, scalable, and economically sound.

Through Dsider’s techno-economic analysis (TEA) platform, Kumar is helping startups bridge the critical gap between vision and execution, ensuring they can navigate complex markets with confidence.

In a recent episode of the Energy Tech Startups Podcast, Kumar shared her insights on the growing importance of TEA in the hard tech space. While clean energy innovation promises transformative solutions, the challenge lies in proving both technical feasibility and economic sustainability. Kumar argues that many early-stage founders, especially in fields like carbon capture, microgrids, and renewable energy, lack the necessary financial tools to assess market fit and long-term profitability—a gap Dsider aims to fill. Continue reading.

Pipeline robotics: How this Houston startup is revolutionizing corrosion monitoring

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After working for years in the downstream energy industry where safety and efficiency were top priorities, Dianna Liu thought there was a way technology could make a huge difference.

Despite loving her company and her job, she took a leap of faith to start a robotics company to create technology to more safely and efficiently monitor corrosion in pipelines. ARIX Technologies has developed software and hardware solutions for its customers with pipelines in downstream and beyond.

"Overall, this industry is an industry that really harps on doing things safely, doing things well, and having all the data to make really informed decisions," Liu says on the Houston Innovators Podcast. "Because these are huge companies with huge problems, it takes a lot of time to set up the right systems, adopt new things, and make changes."

But it's an industry Liu knows well, so she founded ARIX in 2017 and created a team of engineers to create the first iteration of the ARIX robot, which was at first made of wood, she says. Now, years later, the much-evolved robot moves up and down the exterior of the pipe, using its technology to scan the interior to evaluate corrosion. The technology works with ARIX's software to provide key data analysis.

With customers across the country and the world, ARIX has a strong foothold in downstream, but has garnered interest from other verticals as well — even working with NASA at one point, Liu says.

"Staying in downstream would be nice and safe for us, but we've been very lucky and have had customers in midstream, upstream, and even outside oil and gas and chemicals," she says. "We've gotten inquiries ranging from cosmetics plants to water or wastewater — essentially anything that's round or a pipe that can corrode, we can help with."

Liu, who goes into detail on the show about how critical establishing a positive company culture has been for ARIX, shares a bit about what it's been like growing her company in Houston.

"Houston being the Energy Capital of the World opens a lot of doors to both customers, investors, and employees in a way that's unparalleled. It is a great place to build a company because of that — you have all this expertise in this city and the surrounding areas that's hard to find elsewhere," she says. "Being such a hub — not only for energy, but in terms transportation — means it's easy for us to get to our customers from around the world."

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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