James McFarland
Executive Director
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
gparker@tulane.edu

Dr. Parker is an associate professor of Economic Sciences 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 electric power 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. & 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
esmith11@tulane.edu

Prof. Eric N. Smith provides market analysis and economic research on a variety of issues effecting 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
jleblan@tulane.edu

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. 

Greg Thurnher
Adjunct Professor
gthurnhe@tulane.edu

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
Visiting Assistant Professor
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.

Fran Wild
Sr. Program Coordinator
fwild@tulane.edu

Fran Wild serves as the anchor person between the Tulane Energy Institute, Advisory Board, students, and other various stakeholders, keeping them abreast of the departments’ activities. Fran coordinates the institute’s speaker series, conferences and workshops as well as energy seminars, and receptions for delegations from around the world. She is the staff liaison for the Tulane Energy Institute student group.  Prior to Tulane, Fran worked in development and alumni relations at Loyola University, was an environmental paralegal at Liskow and Lewis law firm, and terminal operations supervisor at British Petroleum. She has a BA in Paralegal Studies from Tulane University and is a licensed Notary.

David A. Mullin
Professor
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology
damullin@tulane.edu

Victor J. Law
Professor
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
law@tulane.edu

W.T. Godbey
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
godbey@tulane.edu

John C. Prindle, Jr.
Professor of Practice
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
jprindle@tulane.edu

Larry D. Byers
Professor
Department of Chemistry
byers@tulane.edu

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
Visiting Assistant Professor
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.

Paul Bergey
Affiliated Researcher
Website

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.