James McFarland
Rolanette and Berdon Lawrence Distinguished Chair in Finance
Office location: GW II Rm M118 Phone: 504-865-5782 Email:jmcfarl@tulane.edu
James W. McFarland is the Lawrence Distinguished Chair in Finance and Professor of Finance and Economics in the A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. He also serves as the Executive Director of the Tulane Energy Institute. Previously, Dr. McFarland was the Dean of the Freeman School from July 1, 1988, through June 30, 2005. Prior to joining the faculty at Tulane, he was the Dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Houston. While there, he also served as Associate Dean of the College and Chairman of the Department of Management Sciences. Dr. McFarland has also served on the faculties of Texas A&M University, the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, the University of Rhode Island, and the University of New Mexico. In addition to his academic appointments, he has worked as a researcher for the University of California Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Presidential Commission on the Nation's Water Resources. Dr. McFarland received a Ph.D. in statistics, economics, and mathematics from Texas A&M University.
Geoff Parker
Director
Office location: GW II Rm M120 Phone: 504-865-5472 Email:gparker@tulane.edu
Dr. Parker is professor of Management Science at the A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University and serves as Director of the Tulane Energy Institute. Parker's recent work includes multiple studies of the economics of business platform strategy, smart grids, outsourced engineering projects, and energy markets. Parker's research has been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and multiple corporations. Parker received a B.S. degree from Princeton University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to graduate school, Parker held positions in engineering and finance at General Electric.
Eric Smith
Associate Director
Office location: GW II Rm M117 Phone: 504-865-5031 Email:esmith11@tulane.edu Prof. Eric N. Smith provides market analysis and economic research on a variety of issues affecting the energy sector. Examples include a series of reports on the potential for importing LNG into the US, studies on the economic impact of unconventional shale gas Development on US supplies of natural gas, reports on the use of Petroleum Coke as a feed stock for power generation and ongoing research into the use of bio-butanol as a substitute for ethanol. In addition, he teaches the required introductory courses leading to the energy specialization certificate available to both undergraduate and graduate level students. Finally, he functions as the public face of the University and the Energy Institute, providing requested information to local and regional media on a wide variety of energy related subjects.
Joe LeBlanc Director of the Trading Center
Associate Director
Joseph H. LeBlanc currently serves as Associate Director of the Tulane Energy Institute, Director of the Trading Center and as a Clinical Professor (Professor of Practice) at the A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. Mr. LeBlanc joined Tulane in 2007 with over 25 years of experience in the oil and gas and industry in roles ranging from Treasurer, CFO, Commodity Risk Manager, Derivatives Trader, and Planning Coordinator with companies such as Shell Oil Company, Energy Partners, Ltd., McMoRan Exploration Company, and the Louisiana Land and Exploration Company.
Professor Gregory Thurnher studies the balance of reliability and economics on the operation of the North American Electric Grid. His academic focus includes Development of a Real-Time Electric Marketplace Simulator, as part of his course, Introduction to Electricity Markets. The simulator allows his students to interact, in teams, with neighboring "utilities" as they maintain system integrity while trading in a mock wholesale electric marketplace. The Simulator currently includes mock Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS), interchange scheduling applications, and economic dispatch functions. Future enhancements under Development include transmission system health assessment, integration of renewable energy resources, and demand-side management Simulations.
Ekundayo Shittu Assistant Professor
Office location: GW I Rm 550 Phone: 504-865-5442 Email:eshittu@tulane.edu
Prof. Ekundayo Shittu conducts research in the arena of the economics of global climate change by focusing on the interplay between public policy, energy technology and climate change. Specifically, he is using the tools of microeconomics and operations research paradigms to address how deep, long-term uncertainties about future climate change and resources, technology costs, energy demand and supply, and the stringency of policies are likely to impact social R&D investments in a range of energy technologies. These uncertainties and their inherent risks are critical to shaping today's investment decisions. Addressing this problem is crucial because decision makers are faced with competing energy R&D portfolios in the face of dwindling financial resources and there is increasing anticipation of the enactment of a near term carbon policy.
David A. Mullin Department of Cell and Molecular Biology Associate Professor
Office location:2000 Percival Stern Hall Phone: 504-865-5545 Email:damullin@tulane.edu
Prof. Ekundayo Shittu conducts research in the arena of the economics of global climate change by focusing on the interplay between public policy, energy technology and climate change. Specifically, he is using the tools of microeconomics and operations research paradigms to address how deep, long-term uncertainties about future climate change and resources, technology costs, energy demand and supply, and the stringency of policies are likely to impact social R&D investments in a range of energy technologies. These uncertainties and their inherent risks are critical to shaping today's investment decisions. Addressing this problem is crucial because decision makers are faced with competing energy R&D portfolios in the face of dwindling financial resources and there is increasing anticipation of the enactment of a near term carbon policy.
Victor J. Law Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Associate Professor
Prof. Law is currently working on the following projects: Production and Utilization of Next Generation Fuels for Clean Power and Advanced Electrochemical Technologies for Hydrogen Production by Alternative Thermochemical Cycles, both of which are sponsored by the Department of Energy.
W.T. Godbey Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Assistant Professor
Prof. Godbey's research interests are centered on gene therapy and the manipulation of cells at the genetic level. He has published several papers on the subjects of cellular processing of non-viral gene delivery agents and the use of gene therapy for treatment of bladder cancer. His current research interests include the use of gene therapy for carcinoma treatment, genetic manipulation for bioremediation applications, living fuel cells, controlled release applications for efficient gene delivery, and the use of gene delivery for cellular engineering.
John C. Prindle, Jr. Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Professor of Practice
Prof. Prindle is responsible for undergraduate instruction and laboratory safety. Instructor for eight of the fifteen core curriculum courses over the past two years. Member of the Undergraduate Program committee. Current chairman of the department's ABET accreditation committee. Coordinated ABET activities within the department since 2004. Chairman of the department’s career placement committee. Counsel students on ways to improve their job search, interviewing, and resume-writing skills using previous experience hiring chemical engineers.
Prof. Larry Byers' research is directed towards the production of biofuels through the depolymerization of biomass, using green chemistry. The focus is on optimizing the activities of the enzymes (cellulases, hemicellulases, glycosidases and other degrading enzymes) which bring about the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass in to sugars.
Xiaoyue Jiang Assistant Professor
Office location:GW I Rm 509 Phone: 504-314-2460 Email:xjiang@tulane.edu
Prof. Jiang's research has been focused on stochastic modeling and optimization methodologies. With a keen interest on application at the interface between engineering and management/economics, he has developed research programs in the areas of physical asset management, software reliability, quality of service guarantees in queuing, supply chain and telecommunications networks. His most recent research exploration is on the optimization and performance guarantee issues arisen from the power industry as well as from natural gas supply systems, where system capacity, reliability and sustainability intertwine in profound ways.
Prof. Bergey builds quantitative energy models for a variety of applications in Decision Support Systems, Operations Research, and Enterprise Risk Management. He is a research fellow for the Institute for Advanced Analytics and the Enterprise Risk Management Initiative at North Carolina State University. His research interests include energy grid models and advanced biofuel supply chain economics. He is currently engaged in a DOE sponsored project to examine the impact of future policy changes with regard to the emerging biobutanol industry as a potential liquid transporation fuel.
Dr. Edward Anderson is an Associate Professor of Operations Management at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business. He received his doctorate from MIT and his bachelor's degree with majors in history and electrical engineering from Stanford University. His research interests include project management and product Development in distributed settings (such as offshoring/outsourcing), platform innovation in the electric utility industry, service supply chains, national security policy, and computer simulation. Dr. Anderson managed the UT Austin project management executive education program for Shell Corp. Anderson has received research grants from the National Science Foundation, SAP, and Hewlett-Packard. Professor Anderson has consulted with Ford, Shell, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Frito-Lay, and Atlantic-Richfield and holds three U.S. patents from his work at the Ford Motor Company.
Dr. Sheffrin is a Research Professor at Tulane University Energy Institute specializing in market design for wholesale electricity markets, economics of renewable and regulatory policy. She has twenty-seven years of management experience in the electric utility industry. As Chief Economist for the California Independent System Operator, she was responsible for designing market and reliability products, monitoring market performance, and representing the company before Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), and the Public Utilities Commission. She has served on the Executive Committee of the North American Energy Standards Board, and testified at various Federal and California State Legislative committees. Dr. Sheffrin received her Ph.D. from University of California, Davis.
Dina Bracci Riviere is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Taylor Energy Company LLC, a privately owned Exploration and Production company in New Orleans. Immediately prior to joining Taylor, she was the Controller and Principal Accounting Officer of Energy Partners, Ltd. a publicly traded, independent exploration and production company where she was responsible for all accounting functions as well as financial reporting, as required by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mrs. Riviere also spent 10 years with KPMG LLP, most recently as a Senior Manager in the Assurance and Advisory Services practice serving domestic and international clients in a variety of industries, but primarily focused on those in the exploration and production and energy service industries. Mrs. Riviere received her B.S., Management with a concentration in accounting from the A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University in 1991 and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
Jerry Carlisle is currently Chair, Vistage CE Group 116 in New Orleans and has over 40 years experience in the oil and gas industry. He previously served in numerous financial executive roles with Brock Exploration Company and The Louisiana Land and Exploration Company and was a Board member and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Energy Partners, Ltd. He is currently a Board member and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Louisiana Citizen's Insurance Corporation. He received his B.S. in Accounting from Mississippi State University and MBA from Loyola University.
Prof. Tan is an assistant professor of information management at the A. B. Freeman School of Business. She earned a PhD in supply chain and operations management from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas in 2010. She conducts research in the interface of operations and risk management, particularly focusing on the valuation of capital investment projects in the energy industry, the effect of supply and price risk on procurement management and the economics of business platform strategy.
Ms. Wittig is an Associate with the Investment Banking Group. Ms. Wittig has over three years of investment banking experience, primarily focused on the energy industry. She has participated in mergers and acquisitions, advisory and restructuring transactions, and both debt and equity capital markets transactions totaling over $2.5 billion. Prior to joining GHS, Ms. Wittig earned her Master of Finance from Tulane University's A.B. Freeman School of Business where she held two executive positions in the Tulane Entrepreneurs' Association. During her tenure, she participated in two of Freeman's nationally recognized, invitation only programs - Burkenroad Reports and the Darwin Fenner Fund - and held an internship at Global Hunter Securities. At graduation in May 2008, she was awarded the Tulane Association of Business Alumni Community Service Award. Ms. Wittig also received her BSM in Finance from Tulane University in 2007.
John S. Foreman III is the Oil and Gas Marketing Manager of PetroQuest Energy Inc., a publicly traded, independent exploration and production company headquartered in Lafayette, LA. He joined PetroQuest in 2006 and has previously served in engineering, operational, and financial roles. Prior to joining PetroQuest, Mr. Foreman served approximately 6 years with the Dow Chemical Company where he attained the level of Senior Reliability Engineer and Six Sigma Black Belt.
Mr. Foreman earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana State University in 2000 and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in finance from the Flores MBA Program at Louisiana State University. He currently serves as a Board Officer for the American Petroleum Institute Teche Chapter.
Graduated from Brown University in 1991 with an AB in History and Economics. Went on to receive an MBA in Finance from NYUs Stern School of Economics in 1998. Began his career trading Commodities on the floor of the NYMEX in 1991 for renowned market maker Cooper Neff and Associates. Successfully traded Natural Gas derivatives at Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. Founded his own Acumen Energy fund in 2004 and then ran all Energy derivatives as a Managing Director for JP Morgan. Successfully traded and managed some of the largest Energy derivative transactions in history. Also served as an inter dealer broker and as an MD in Marketing for RBS Sempra. Began as a guest lecturer at Tulane University in 2008 and where he now serves as an Adjunct Professor.
Seabron Adamson recently joined Tulane as an adjunct faculty member, where he is teaching a class on Energy Portfolio Management. Seabron has over 20 years experience in the energy industry, in the US and Europe. He was Vice President and co-head of the Energy and Environment practice at a major economic consulting firm, and has also worked with an energy and commodities group at a major alternative investment firm. He has advised a wide range of companies, investment banks and private equity firms on M&A and financing transactions in the electric power, natural gas and renewable energy industries. Originally trained as a physicist, he holds graduate degrees from Georgia Tech, Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
