Vikram Rao is the executive director of the Research Triangle Energy Consortium, and assumed this position on September 1, 2008. Rao spent 9 years with Halliburton and another 25 with predecessor companies. Most recently he served as senior vice president and chief technology officer, responsible for Halliburton’s technology effort as well as intellectual asset management. He joined a predecessor company in 1974 as a senior research engineer.
Dr. Rao serves on the board of Intelligent Well Controls Ltd. and also advises venture capitalist Energy Ventures AS, and firms BioLargo Inc., Global Energy Talent Ltd. and Integro Earth Fuels Inc. He also serves as a member of the North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission.
Rao is the author of more than 50 publications and has been awarded 30 United States patents and foreign analogs in fields that include non-ferrous metal refining, alloy formulations, and oil and gas technology. RTI Press released his book "Shale Gas: the Promise and the Peril" in July 2012. Rao earned a doctorate degree and a master’s in engineering from Stanford University, and holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in Chennai, India.