ETRM Goes to School

With the aging of the workforce, the energy industry in the United States is facing the loss of the experienced and skilled resources that have developed, deployed and maintained the complex systems that underpin our energy infrastructure and the markets that operate within it.

Anticipating the industry's needs, many universities in the United States have developed programs designed to equip new graduates with a broad understanding of many of the technologies that are required as this industry continues to rapidly evolve in the United States.

The breadth of these educational programs include the traditional engineering courses that focus on the skills necessary to design and maintain the wide ranging systems and infrastructures that delivery energy in its many forms, including recently developed courses focused on "green" energy and smart-grid technologies.

Others, like programs offered through the business colleges at the University of Texas, Tulane, and the University of Houston, are focused on the business of energy trading and risk management, acquainting students with the dynamics of the complex energy markets and equipping them with the analytic skills necessary to find employment in the energy-trading industry.

One area related to energy that has not been particularly well served by the universities until now, however, is the information technologies and systems that are required by, and specific to, energy trading and risk management.

Energy-trading companies have traditionally had to internally develop the skills and knowledge that are required of the IT resources supporting their trading operations. These requisite skills include a solid understanding of the terminology and processes of energy trading, in addition to the technical skills required to install, integrate and support extremely complex commodity trading systems.

Once trained, these IT resources become a critical component of the trading floor and, should they leave, the cost to replace them in terms of time and dollars can be very high.

The University of Houston's Bauer College of Business, having recognized the challenge that these companies face, has designed and launched a first-of-its-kind Energy Trading System Track, covering the issues and complexities of energy trading and risk management (ETRM) software and technologies. This new Energy Trading System Track leverages the schools finance department course in Energy Trading and couples it with a new Management Information Systems (MIS) course for 2010, Energy Trading Systems.

The new program is the brain child of energy industry veteran, Ed Bell, who, through his long association with the university, has marshaled the necessary support to create the program and is serving as the instructor for the first iteration of the course. The Energy Trading Systems course will leverage the school's existing classroom and lab space, including a dedicated network infrastructure on which students will get hands-on experience in the complexities of installing, integrating and supporting complex ETRM systems.