Dr. Vikram Rao

Dr. Vikram Rao is an expert in energy technologies who serves in an advisory role with RTI International India. He supports projects in India, proposal activities, and business development in the areas of energy and environment. Over the course of his career, he has built relationships with international universities such as Duke University and North Carolina State University and Indian research centers such as Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, and Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. He has been instrumental in the development of various legal instruments which enabled commercialization of technologies from these institutions. 

Dr. Rao is the executive director of the Research Triangle Energy Consortium, a collaborative effort to address energy needs and issues throughout the world. His background also includes 9 years with Halliburton and another 25 with predecessor companies. He served as senior vice president and chief technology officer, responsible for Halliburton’s technology effort as well as intellectual asset management. 

Some of the companies and organizations Dr. Rao currently advises include RTI International, BioLargo Inc., Alchemy Sciences, Fervo Energy, SAGE Geosystems, TriGreen Resources and Cybele Microbiome. He has also been affiliated with Global Energy Talent Ltd.; Melnior Innovations Inc., an Alchemy Inc. subsidiary; SAGE Geosystems; TriGreen Resources; Eastman Chemicals Company; and Energy Ventures AS. A sought-after expert witness in intellectual property litigation in the U.S. and Canada, he has also served on the review panel for Stripe Climate (now Frontier), the Board of Directors of the Energy Consortium, IIT Madras, and the Science Council of Royal Dutch Shell. He was Chief Scientist at Global Resources Corp. and Director at Intelligent Wells Company Ltd. until its sale.

A past Chairman of the North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission, Dr. Rao has also been Chairman of the Society of Petroleum Engineers Research and Development Committee. He is a director at GMI International Inc., Enventure Global Technologies Inc., Fiberspar Inc., Welldynamics BV, Intelligent Well Completions Ltd., and Opal Energy Corp. 

Dr. Rao has been awarded 42 U.S. patents and is the author of more than 40 publications, including the notable book Shale Gas: The Promise and the Peril. Released in 2012 by RTI Press, the book is written for general audiences and is intended to inform on the heated debate on fracturing for shale gas. More than 4,500 copies have been sold, and nine university courses have used the book, which was the Deloitte Energy Book Club selection for spring 2014. In 2015, RTI Press released an extensively updated second edition, Shale Oil and Gas: The Promise and the Peril. Dr. Rao published a third book on the topic in 2016, with coauthor Professor Rob Knight, Sustainable Shale Oil and Gas: Analytical Chemistry, Geochemistry and Biochemistry Methods. 

Other notable publications by Dr. Rao include Particulates Matter: Impact, Measurement and Remediation of Airborne Pollutants, with Professor William Vizuette, from Elsevier Press in December 2020.

RTI Press released his latest book on November 1, 2022. It is co-authored with Emeritus Professor Chris Gould, and entitled Carbon-Free Power: the Role of Small Modular (Nuclear) Reactors.