Dr. Raghava Kommalapati of Prairie View A&M University

The Center for Energy and Environmental Sustainability (CEES) was established in 2010 with support from NSF CREST Program. . In Phase I, CEES focused on three research areas (1) Biofuels, such as bioethanol and biodiesel, (2) Wind Energy, (3) Energy and Sustainability. The mission of Phase I was to promote a multidisciplinary approach to learning, research, and the development of strategies to address national and global challenges of energy and environmental sustainability. The center's two goals were to (1) Build a nationally-recognized Biofuels and Renewable Energy research program; (2) Significantly increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who completed B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in STEM fields. Based on the success of the research and the merits of the proposal, NSF funded The Phase II of Center.  The research foci of the new Phase are (1) Bioenergy, (2) Offshore Wind Energy, and (3) Environmental Sustainability.  These three thrust areas build on Phase I’s results while substantially expanding the research scope and leveraging collaborations with other universities, national labs, and industry. The Bioenergy research group will focus on the production of bioenergy crops with treated produced water and the generation of biomass-based hydrocarbon fuels which can be further processed like crude oil. The Offshore Wind Energy research group will conduct research to improve the feasibility and reliability of massive offshore energy generation based on the research experiences gained from the study of in-land wind power. It will address key challenges in deep-sea floating offshore wind technologies. The Environmental Sustainability research group will employ process engineering, life cycle assessment, emerging membrane technology, and stochastic methods to enhance the sustainability of fossil fuel energy sources and to develop novel environmental and statistical forecasting air quality and climate variation.

Biography:

About the Presenter:

Dr. Raghava R. Kommalapati is the Director for the Center for Energy & Environmental Sustainability(NSF funded) and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Prairie View A&M University(PVAMU).  He served in several roles since joining PVAMU in 1998, including Interim Department Head (01/2010 -08/2013).  He obtained his MS and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering from Louisiana State University.  His areas of expertise include energy and environmental sustainability, life cycle analysis, air quality modeling, fog-air interactions, membrane processes for treatment of fracking produced water, to list a few. He received grant funding of approximately $18M and published 1 book and 130 peer-reviewed journal articles, and conference proceedings/extended abstracts and has 190 conference presentations. He is a Professional Engineer (PE) in Texas and a Board Certified Environmental Engineer (BCEE). He is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and an active member of  AEESP, AAEE, ACS, and AWMA.

Email:

Address:Gilchrist Engineering Building, Suite 123, Prairie View, United States, 77446