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Houston: An Industrial, Business and Research CenterOur Houston, Texas location is one of the primary assets of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Because of the rapid growth of the Gulf Coast petrochemical industry over the last fifty years, Houston is arguably the current world capital of chemical engineering activity. Houston's employment structure, however, has diversified since the 1980's. Houston has filled a niche in engineering services and in other applications of pure science and mathematics to technology. Rapid growth at NASA and the Texas Medical Center has been made possible by Houston's existing network of professionals in engineering, computer science, and technical administration, a legacy of historic ties to oil and gas, petrochemicals and large-scale construction. Upstream Energy: Houston is the leading domestic and international center for virtually every segment of the oil and gas industry - exploration, production, transmission, marketing, service, supply, offshore drilling, and technology. Houston dominates U.S. oil and gas exploration and production. In January 2005, the Houston Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas (PMSA) accounted for:
Downstream Energy and Chemicals: The Texas Gulf Coast has a crude operable capacity of 3.853 million barrels of refined petroleum products per calendar day. This corresponds to 86.2% of the Texas total and 22.8% of the U.S. total. The Houston Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in 2002 had 382 chemical manufacturing establishments, with aggregate employment exceeding 34,200. The Houston-Gulf Coast region has nearly 40% of the nation's base petrochemicals manufacturing capacity and dominates U.S. production of three major resins: polyethylene, with 38.7% of U.S. capacity, polypropylene with 48.4% of U.S. capacity, and polyvinyl chloride with 35.9% (2004 data). Engineering: Houston is a dominant presence on the engineering scene. In the aggregate, the location quotient (LQ) for engineering (the ratio of engineers as a share of Houston PMSA employment to engineers as a share of national employment) was 1.58, according to the 2000 census, which means engineers were 58% more common in Houston than they were nationally. In specialties tied to Houston's historic strengths in energy and chemicals, the area's dominance is pronounced: LQ's run as high as 15.76 for petroleum engineers and 5.28 for chemical engineers. Nanotechnology: Houston has evolved into a major center for nanotech research. Rice University has created the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology and has established the Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology with fedral funding. The five major research institutions in the Texas Medical Center have formed the Alliance for Nanohealth, the first collaborative reearch effort to bridge gaps between medicine, biology, materials science, public policy, and nanotechnology. Houston nanotech firms include Carbon nanotechnologies Inc., a producer of carbon nanotubes; Nanospectra Biosciences, a startup working on medical applications of nanotechnology; Applied MEMS Inc. and BuckyUSA. Biotechnology: Expansion of biotechnology operations in Houston in recent years has moved Houston into the forefront of the industry, aiding Houston's economic diversification. Houston's biotech industry is keyed to three segments:
Areas of biotech expertise in the region include health care, agriculture, chemistry, nanoscience, environmental science, and consumer goods. Research & Development: NASA, the Texas Medical Center, major universities and the world's largest concentration of energy and petrochemical companies make Houston a focal point of U.S. R&D activities. Houston is in the forefront of energy exploration and production technology and of chemicals research. ExxonMobil, Shell, ChevronTexaco, Baker Hughes, and Schlumberger are among the international firms with major R&D laboratories in Houston.
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