UH Chevron Energy Graduate Fellows Awards

The University of Houston (UH) Chevron Energy Graduate Fellows Award seeks outstanding graduate candidates at the University of Houston (UH) engaged in graduate education and research in energy topics from across the campus. The program will fund 8 (eight) fellows with a one-year (Academic Year 2026-2027), $12,000 graduate fellowship in addition to any other remuneration students might be receiving. Students must have a minimum of 12 months before completion of their degree program, with preference for students who have longer horizons before completion of their degree program. Students enrolled for less than six months in their graduate program (as of May 18, 2026) are not eligible to apply.

Timelines

• Call for Applications: May 5, 2026
• Applications due: May 29, 2026, 5 PM Central
• Selections announced: July 22, 2026, 5 PM Central

Eligibility

• Graduate students from any school or college at UH with a focus on energy study and/or research.
• Students must have been enrolled for longer than six months in their graduate program as of May 18, 2026.
• Students must have a minimum of 12 months of coursework and / or research remaining prior to completion of their degree program.
• Students must be in good academic standing in their graduate program.

Topics

Competitive applicants may carry out research in any topic related to energy, but priority will be given to students whose work focuses on scalable innovation for transformational policy,
regulation, design and operation of current energy systems and their evolution in the near- and long- term:

• Transforming the traditional oil & gas business of today with improved safety, reliability, efficiency, digital transformation, and lower carbon footprint (for the various asset classes such as deepwater, shale & tight, heavy oil, and complex facilities of the future);
• Building the lower-carbon businesses particularly in the areas of carbon capture and utilization (through thermo-/electro-/bio- catalytic pathways), H2 value chain, next-generation renewable fuels including sustainable marine and aviation fuels, and qualification/quantification of carbon intensity, and carbon offsets;
• Future energy systems including novel geothermal solutions, energy storage systems, mobility systems, modular nuclear reactors, fusion, etc., focusing on the following aspects:
  • Systems integration for high reliability and high efficiency of non-grid connected lower carbon industrial facilities
  • Process intensification (advanced equipment design, novel reaction pathways, and integrated process configurations to deliver transformative improvements in throughput, energy consumption, safety, and environmental impact)
  • Digital/automation disruptors that can redefine operational advantages (such as "emergent AI" and advanced computing, advanced robotics and uncrewed systems, quantum computing for optimization & materials)
  • Optimization of diverse energy systems in micro-grids
  • Disruptive energy systems that can provide 24/7 large-scale power anywhere including grid-scale energy storage & "heat/molecular storage systems"
  • Autonomous systems for the construction and operation of industrial facilities, particularly in remote locations
  • Sustainable policies that lower the uncertainties and remove bottlenecks for businesses and individuals involved in the energy transition
  • Waste as a resource, particularly waste heat (including data centers), wastewater, and the by-products of new energy forms
  • New sustainable sources of materials, particularly minerals, are needed for the energy transition. Advanced materials (including nanoscale and nanostructured materials)
  • Techno-economic studies evaluating how the technologies described above may evolve based on technical inputs, including learning curves, scaling laws, first-of-a-kind versus nth-of-a-kind costs, and technology roadmaps
  • Techno-social studies examining technology adoption rates and customer willingness to pay for different performance dimensions-such as availability, carbon intensity, and cost-and how these tradeoffs may change over time.

How to Apply

Applicants must email the following to ramanan@uh.edu as a single PDF file with the email subject line identifying the full name of the candidate and the name of the program (UH Chevron Energy Graduate Fellows Award).

• Coversheet including name and contact information of UH Faculty mentor providing letter of recommendation sheet: Download Template
• A research statement (not to exceed 2 pages, single spaced, 1-inch margin, 11-point font),
• A two-page CV,
• An unofficial copy of the UH transcript, and
• A letter of recommendation from a UH Faculty mentor.

Recommendation letters should be submitted by email to ramanan@uh.edu with the subject line identifying candidate’s full name -- due at 5PM (Central) on June 1, 2026.

Applications due: May 29, 2026, 5 PM Central

Selection Process

Award recipients will be selected by a committee and will be evaluated based on the strength of their research statement, CV and recommendation letter. The evaluation committee will consist of UH Faculty, staff, industry (including Chevron) experts and other qualified professionals. The selection process may require a short oral interview with a select group of semi-finalists during the week of July 6h (to be conducted online).

Terms of the Award

1. The awards will be administered as a one-year fellowship award to the selected students, contingent on maintaining good academic standing.
2. Fellows will be expected to engage at least quarterly with Chevron subject matter experts and participate in educational and research engagements organized by UH Energy throughout the year.
3. Fellows must submit a one-page progress report on a quarterly basis.
4. Interested fellows will be encouraged to participate in the development of energy related blogs and thought leadership-based opinion pieces.
5. Students are expected to make satisfactory academic progress and be enrolled full-time during the fall/spring semesters.

There will be a kickoff reception on Aug 28, 2026 (lunch time) and a year-end presentation in June or July 2027.

Contact

For additional information, please contact Ramanan Krishnamoorti. (ramanan@uh.edu)