Phaneendra Kondapi, a veteran engineering educator who helped develop the nation鈥檚 first subsea engineering program at the 91视频, has been named founding director of engineering programs at the 91视频 at Katy.
Kondapi is returning to the University after serving as director of subsea engineering at Texas A&M University for the past year.
The UH Cullen College of Engineering began offering two at the Houston Community College (HCC) Northwest-Katy Campus last fall, in advance of the planned opening of a new UH System facility in Katy in 2018. The UH System site will be home to UH Katy and the 91视频-Victoria at Katy. The graduate-level course offerings are focused on areas in high demand in Houston's Energy Corridor, including petroleum, subsea, electrical and environmental engineering.
Five graduate-level classes will be offered at the HCC Katy campus this fall, in electrical engineering, subsea engineering and environmental engineering. Kondapi will teach one of the subsea courses, flow assurance.
鈥淒r. Kondapi was vital to developing the first subsea engineering program in the U.S. here at the Cullen College. I am tremendously proud that he will now help to bring our top-ranked engineering programs to the Katy community,鈥� said Joseph. W. Tedesco, Elizabeth D. Rockwell Dean of the Cullen College of Engineering.
Kondapi taught the UH subsea engineering program鈥檚 inaugural course, flow assurance, in 2011, and has worked on to standardize global subsea education through the UH-led .
Formerly an adjunct professor of subsea engineering, Kondapi has more than 20 years of experience managing engineering projects at energy industry giants FMC Technologies and KBR.
He said he wants students to learn not just the technical material but to gain an enthusiasm for the field. 鈥淢y motivation is to make my students successful by encouraging them to get ready for industry,鈥� Kondapi said.
Kondapi was awarded the from the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) International, which recognizes petroleum engineering faculty who have demonstrated innovative teaching techniques and creative pedagogy methods in the classroom.
The HCC building in Katy is easily accessible for Energy Corridor professionals pursuing degrees or certificates to enhance their skills. "We are here in Katy to serve both the community and the industry to improve their technical and engineering careers," Kondapi said.