Opening remarks highlighted Louisiana and the Gulf South as a global hub for energy innovation and production. President Michael A. Fitts previewed the Tulane Institute of Advanced Energy Studies, an umbrella uniting energy research and education across law, science, engineering, and business. He noted Tulane’s surge in federal research funding, the return of civil engineering as an undergraduate major, new master’s programs in electrical and mechanical engineering, cross-disciplinary offerings (e.g., landscape architecture and engineering), the Innovation Institute (launched 2022), and the downtown revitalization anchored by the proposed redevelopment of the Charity Hospital building. Forum theme: “Powering the Future: Innovation, Competition, Collaboration.”
Featured session: Dean Marcilynn A. Burke interviewed Bobby Tudor, founder/CEO of Artemis Energy Partners. Tudor framed the “dual challenge”: delivering reliable, affordable energy while reducing emissions. He emphasized how geopolitics (e.g., the Ukraine war) reshaped the energy conversation, and that technology and access to capital drive progress. Examples ranged from the shale revolution to Texas days when renewables supplied 71% of afternoon electricity. Tudor sees momentum in CCUS (carbon capture, utilization, and storage), tempered enthusiasm for hydrogen until offtake markets mature, and a massive investment gap versus climate ambitions. He urged cross-disciplinary university collaboration, a robust innovation ecosystem, and pragmatic policy that complements markets. In Q&A, he noted the urgency of climate impacts, the ethical complexities of global energy access, regulatory volatility as an investor concern, and the Gulf Coast’s strategic advantages (heavy industry, geology, existing pipelines) for hydrogen and CCUS.
