Speakers

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  Francisco J. Monaldi Director, Latin American Energy Program | Baker Institute See Bio

  

  Francisco J. Monaldi

  Director, Latin American Energy Program | Baker Institute

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  Francisco J. Monaldi, Ph.D., is the Wallace S. Wilson Fellow in Latin American Energy Policy and director of the Latin America Energy Program at the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

  He is also a fellow at the Center for the United States and Mexico, a lecturer in energy economics at Rice University’s Department of Economics, and a lecturer in energy management at the Jones Graduate School of Business. He is a member of the International Faculty at IESA School of Management in Venezuela and Panama, where he was a professor and the founding director of the Center for Energy and the Environment. He is a nonresident fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

  He is a member of the International Advisory Council of Global Americans, the Venezuela Solutions Group of the Atlantic Council, and the Education Advisory Board of the Association of International Energy Negotiators.

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  Kenneth B. Medlock III CES Senior Director | Baker Institute See Bio

  

  Kenneth B. Medlock III

  CES Senior Director | Baker Institute

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  Kenneth B. Medlock III, Ph.D., is the James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics at the Baker Institute and the senior director of the Center for Energy Studies. He is also the director of the Masters of Energy Economics program, and he holds adjunct professor appointments in the Department of Economics and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University. Medlock is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan; he is a member of the Advisory Board of the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines; and he is a member of the Advisory Committee of the KAPSARC School of Public Policy. In 2012–13, Medlock held the prestigious Haydn Williams Fellowship at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. 
  
  Medlock teaches advanced courses in energy economics and supervises Ph.D. students in the energy economics field. He has published numerous scholarly articles in his primary areas of interest, which include natural gas markets, electricity markets, energy commodity price relationships, transportation, national oil company behavior, economic development and energy demand, energy use and the environment, and various energy transitions topics ranging from engineered and nature-based carbon capture to hydrogen to the economic drivers of technology adoption. He has testified multiple times on Capitol Hill on U.S. energy exports and electricity market evolution, has spoken at OPEC, and is frequently asked to speak about global and domestic energy issues.
  
  Medlock is the past vice president for conferences for the United States Association for Energy Economics (USAEE), and he previously served as vice president for academic affairs. In 2001, he won (jointly with Ron Soligo) the International Association for Energy Economics Award for Best Paper of the Year in the Energy Journal. In 2011, he was given the USAEE’s Senior Fellow Award, and in 2013 he accepted the USAEE’s Adelman-Frankel Award for the Center for Energy Studies. In 2019, Medlock was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for the Advancement of the Education of Future Energy Leaders by the Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah Foundation. In 2025, he received the OPEC Award for Research in recognition of “a career dedicated to the objective study and balanced analysis of the energy sector.” He is also an active member of the American Economic Association and is an academic member of the National Petroleum Council. Medlock has also served as an advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission in their respective energy modeling efforts.

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  Gabriel Collins CES Lead, Energy and Geopolitics in Eurasia | Baker Institute See Bio

  

  Gabriel Collins

  CES Lead, Energy and Geopolitics in Eurasia | Baker Institute

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  Gabriel Collins is the Baker Botts Fellow in Energy and Environmental Regulatory Affairs at the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and a senior visiting research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. At the Baker Institute, he co-heads the Program on Energy and Geopolitics in Eurasia. He is also a water-energy nexus thrust leader at Rice University’s WaTER Institute and an editor at the Texas Water Journal.

  Collins’ research focuses on energy, food, water, national security, and multiple points of intersection between these issues. His work is regularly published in high-impact outlets such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Naval War College Review, and the Baker Institute. A full repository can be found below, on his personal website, and by following him on LinkedIn.

  Collins received his B.A. from Princeton University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. He was a member of the U.S. Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute team and is still teased by his family for joining a commodity hedge fund right before the 2008 market crash. Collins is a Permian Basin native, reads Mandarin, Russian, and Spanish.

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  Jim Krane CES Lead, Energy and Geopolitics in the Middle East | Baker Institute See Bio

  

  Jim Krane

  CES Lead, Energy and Geopolitics in the Middle East | Baker Institute

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  Jim Krane, Ph.D., is the Diana Tamari Sabbagh Fellow in Middle East Energy Studies and co-director of the Middle East Energy Roundtable at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. He specializes in energy geopolitics, with a focus on oil-exporting countries and the challenges they face from climate action, the energy transition, energy subsidies, and internal demand. He teaches classes on energy policy and geopolitics at Rice University.

  Krane’s scholarly articles have been published in Nature Energy, Middle East Journal, Foreign Affairs, Energy Policy, Energy Journal, Energy Research & Social Science, Resources Policy, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, MRS Energy and Sustainability, the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, as well as numerous edited volumes.

  He is the author of two books: “City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism” and “Energy Kingdoms: Oil and Political Survival in the Persic Gulf".

   

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  Rachel A. Meidl CES Deputy Director | Baker Institute See Bio

  

  Rachel A. Meidl

  CES Deputy Director | Baker Institute

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  Rachel A. Meidl, LP.D., CHMM, is the fellow in energy and sustainability and the deputy director of the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute. She also serves as a strategic advisor on circular economy for MSCI, Inc. Her research focuses on sustainability, circular economy, life cycle management, and understanding the environmental, economic, and social impacts across energy and material supply chains. 

  Meidl was previously appointed deputy associate administrator for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Prior to her government service, she was director of regulatory and technical affairs at the American Chemistry Council. She has 28 years of experience in industry, academia, government, finance, and international relations.

  Meidl is a certified hazardous materials manager, and holds a bachelor’s degree in conservation biology and zoology and animal physiology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a master’s in environmental policy and management, and a master’s in applied science and technology.

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  Edward M. Emmett CES Lead, Transportation | Baker Institute See Bio

  

  Edward M. Emmett

  CES Lead, Transportation | Baker Institute

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  Edward M. Emmett is a Fellow in Energy and Transportation at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.  Currently, his research efforts are focused on future fuels for the transportation industry, freight mobility, building a resilient global supply chain and understanding the past, present and future role of highways.   
  
  Emmett’s background in transportation policy spans decades.  A member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1979 to 1987, Judge Emmett was chairman of the Committee on Energy, a member of the Transportation Committee, and represented the state on numerous national committees relating to energy and transportation policy.
  
  In 1989, President George H. W. Bush nominated Emmett as a Commissioner at the Interstate Commerce Commission. After being confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate, Judge Emmett served on the commission for three years.
  
  Following his service at the Interstate Commerce Commission, Emmett was president of The National Industrial Transportation League from 1992 until 2003, when he created The Emmett Company, a transportation policy consulting firm.
  
  From 2007 until 2019, Emmett served as the elected County Judge of Harris County, Texas.  In that role he was the chief executive officer of the nation’s third largest county and was the Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
  
  Emmett has received international recognition for his work in transportation and logistics policy. He was named Transportation Person of the Year by Transportation Clubs International and one of the Top 20 Logistics Professionals by Logistics Forum.
  
  Currently, Emmett has several key roles in the development of transportation policy.  He chairs the Texas Department of Transportation Freight Advisory Committee and is on numerous transportation related advisory boards.
  
  In addition to his role at the Baker Institute, Emmett is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Northeastern University’s Global Resilience Institute, where his focus is on emergency preparedness  and response and community resilience.  As Harris County Judge from 2007 until 2019, Judge Emmett was Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for the nation’s third largest county.  His actions in dealing with Hurricane Ike, the floods of Hurricane Harvey and other community disasters garnered national and international recognition.
  
  Emmett attended Bellaire High School. He graduated from Rice University in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and from the University of Texas at Austin in 1974 with a Master of Public Affairs degree.
  
  Emmett has received numerous awards and honors, including Distinguished Alumnus of Rice University, the Distinguished Public Service Award from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, and the Presidential Call to Service Award.

  https://youtu.be/6lL3R2JfxL8