Energy HPC & AI Conference
February 24–26, 2026 | Houston, TX

About the Conference

19 Years of Fostering Relationships and Highlighting Trends in HPC & AI for the Energy Future

The annual Energy HPC & AI Conference is the premier meeting place for the energy industry to engage in conversations about challenges and opportunities in high performance computing, computational science and engineering, machine learning, and data science.

Attended by over 500 leaders and experts from the energy industry, academia, national labs, and the IT industry, this event offers a unique opportunity for stakeholders to engage and network to help advance HPC in the energy space. The agenda includes invited speakers, a technical program, birds of a feather sessions, an exhibit hall, networking receptions, poster presentations, and post-conference workshops.

The #EnergyHPCAI Conference has become a key venue for industry professionals, planners, and practitioners. It serves as a forum for taking the pulse of industry needs and discussing challenges, opportunities, and new developments at the intersection of the energy sector, the IT industry, and the academic research community.

This event is hosted annually by the Ken Kennedy Institute at Rice University.

Organizing Committee

2025–2026 Organizing Committee

Ken Kennedy Institute Organizers

Lydia Kavraki – Director
David Pynadath – Executive Director for Research Initiatives
Michelle Atkinson – Director of Operations
Kelly Peters – Strategic Partnerships & Communications Manager
Leah Seward – Events Specialist

Committee Chair

Keith Gray – TotalEnergies

Committee Members

Mauricio Araya-Polo – TotalEnergies
Bill Brouwer – SLB
Donny Cooper – TotalEnergies
Jonelle Bradshaw de Hernandez – TACC
Erik Engquist – Rice University
Esthela Gallardo – Microsoft
Melyssa Fratkin – Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Raj Gautam – ExxonMobil
Michael Gujral – Shell
Maxime Hugues – NVIDIA
Matthias Heinkenschloss – Rice University
Elizabeth L’Heureux – bp
Christopher Leader – SLB
Alex Loddoch – Chevron
David Martin – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Tom McDonald – AWS
Nefeli Moridis – NVIDIA
Jan Odegard – Rice University
Tim Osborne – Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Keith Ritchie – AMD
Beatrice Riviere – Rice University
Jeremy Singer – ExxonMobil
Noella Soares – Shell
Suzy Tichenor – Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Muhong Zhou – bp

Conference Founders

The Energy HPC & AI Conference traces its roots back to 2008, when it was first launched as the Rice Oil and Gas HPC Workshop. Spearheaded by six visionary founders from both industry and academia, what began as a modest gathering of forward-thinking minds has since evolved into a premier event that draws over 500 participants annually. The conference has grown over the past 19 years and has recently been renamed the “Energy HPC & AI Conference,” reflecting innovation in AI and high-performance computing across the energy sector.

Henri Calandra – TotalEnergies
Keith Gray – TotalEnergies
Scott Morton – Rice University
Jan Odegard – Rice University
Moshe Vardi – Rice University
Chap Wong – Chevron

Conference History

All conference recordings can be found on the Ken Kennedy Institute YouTube channel @RiceKenKennedyInstitute, organized in playlists by year.

View Past Programs

2025 Energy HPC Conference | February 25–27, 2025
Printed Program Schedule Conference Videos Report
2024 Energy HPC Conference | March 5–7, 2024
Printed Program Schedule Conference Videos Report
2023 Energy HPC Conference | February 28 – March 2, 2023
Printed Program Schedule Conference Videos Report
2022 Energy HPC Conference | March 1–3, 2022
Printed Program Schedule
2021 Oil and Gas HPC Conference | March 5, 2021
Virtual | Schedule
2020 Rice Oil and Gas HPC Conference | March 2–4, 2020
Printed Program Schedule
2019 Rice Oil and Gas HPC Conference | March 4–6, 2019
Printed Program Schedule
2018 Rice Oil and Gas HPC Conference | March 12–13, 2018
Schedule
2017 Rice Oil and Gas HPC Conference | March 15–16, 2017
Printed Program Schedule
2016 Rice Oil and Gas HPC Conference | March 2–3, 2016
Printed Program Schedule
2015 Rice Oil and Gas HPC Workshop | March 4–5, 2015
Printed Program
2014 Rice Oil and Gas HPC Workshop | March 5–6, 2014
Printed Program
2013 Rice Oil and Gas HPC Workshop | February 28, 2013
2012 Rice Oil and Gas HPC Workshop | March 1, 2012
2011 Rice Oil and Gas HPC Workshop | March 3, 2011
2010 Rice Oil and Gas HPC Workshop | March 4, 2010
2009 Rice Oil and Gas HPC Workshop | March 5, 2009
2008 Rice Oil and Gas HPC Workshop | March 2008

Associated Events

High Performance Computing in Oil and Gas: Technical Directions and Operations Issues | November 14, 2008
SEG 2008 Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, Nevada
High Performance Computing in Seismic Imaging Workshop | September 2007
SEG 2007 Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas

Fellowship Support

The Ken Kennedy Institute has awarded over $2 million to 232 graduate students since 2001 through its recruiting and sponsored fellowship programs. Of these, the Energy HPC & AI Conference has directly funded 95 students for over $700,000.

Recruiting Fellowships

Since 2014, the Energy High Performance Computing Conference—jointly funded by the nominating departments—has supported 65 four-year recruiting fellowships totaling $935,000. These fellowships help attract exceptional graduate students to Rice University with research interests in AI, high performance computing, and other related areas of computational science and engineering, especially in areas of relevance to the energy industry. Learn more about our recruiting fellowships here.

Networking Opportunities

Connect with Leaders, Experts, and Next-Generation Innovators

Tuesday afternoon will include a Networking Reception to complete an evening of connecting with fellow conference attendees and meeting our #EHPCAI26 sponsors. This is a prime chance to exchange ideas and forge valuable professional relationships across the energy, academic, and IT sectors.

The following day will wrap up the 2026 Energy HPC & AI Conference with a Poster Reception to showcase exciting research happening in the field by the future leaders in high-performance computing and AI.

Specialty coffee and snack breaks will be hosted in the exhibit hall both days of the conference. Day 1's afternoon break is sponsored by Supermicro.