By Kelly Peters,
Special to Rice News
High-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly transforming the energy sector, providing opportunities to optimize efficiency, scalability and sustainability. The 2025 Energy HPC Conference, hosted by the Ken Kennedy Institute at Rice University, took stock of the current state of science and technology to explore the implications of emerging research and innovation across the industry.
The program for the 18 th annual conference included more than 25 invited speakers and technical talks, over 30 sponsors, a poster session and various networking opportunities to spur collaboration. Each year the program is organized with the guidance of an interdisciplinary committee spearheaded by Keith Gray, conference co-founder and vice president for computational science and engineering at TotalEnergies. Throughout the three-day forum, a total of 590 researchers, practitioners and industry professionals visited Rice from 28 states and 12 countries across the globe.
Positioned to advance science, technology and society
Amy Dittmar, Rice’s Howard R. Hughes Provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, kicked off the conference with a tribute to the university’s rich history in computing through the development of the Rice Computer Project (R1) and formation of the Ken Kennedy Institute before providing an introduction to Momentous — addressing the university’s commitment to premier teaching and research.
“Rice is uniquely positioned to leverage our expertise across disciplines,” Dittmar said. “We are working with partners across the energy sector to ensure an energy transition that is aspirational, as well as attainable, to transform society.”
Keynote presentations were delivered by Biondo Biondi, the Barney and Estelle Professor at Stanford University, and Selda Gunsel, chief technology officer and executive vice president of Shell Technology. The program also featured a talk by Jesse Chan, associate professor of computational applied mathematics and operations research (CMOR); a workshop on evaluating the performance of GPU-accelerated HPC and AI applications by John Mellor-Crummey, professor of computer science and electrical and computer engineering; and a workshop on scientific machine learning led by Beatrice Riviere, the Noah Harding Chair and Professor of CMOR, and Matthias Heinkenschloss, the Noah Harding Chair and Professor of CMOR, which Riviere said covered “efficient and accurate methods that showed the computational gains in combining machine learning with physical laws.”
High-performance computing in the age of AI
Multiple presentations throughout the conference highlighted the versatility of high-performance tools in enhancing data processing capabilities and facilitating the exploration and production of energy through subsurface imaging, reservoir simulation and computational fluid dynamics. In parallel, other presentations analyzed past learnings from traditional HPC applications to inform future decision-making in the age of AI. Themes emerged around the importance of improving algorithms, system architecture and code efficiency to support the scalability of HPC and AI models, especially in pursuit of energy solutions that are both sustainable and socially responsible.
In a concluding fireside chat, University of Utah emeritus presidential professor Dan Reed observed that the necessary investments in the future of AI and HPC go beyond hardware and software advancements — there is a need for enhanced investment in workforce development and a willingness to engage the next generation in understanding the science and technology driving change for the future of the energy industry and beyond. In addition to investing in early stage researchers, the value of integrated partnerships between private, public and academic sectors remains a priority.
“We’ve got to build a bigger talent base,” Reed said. “We’ve got to lower some of the barriers to collaboration and play to the strengths of what each group does.”
Cultivating talent and collaboration
The Energy HPC Conference poster session is an opportunity to support the next generation of researchers in the field, inviting students and postdoctoral researchers from all universities to share work leveraging computational science and technology. As an addition to the program this year, a handful of poster presenters had the chance to deliver a lightning talk in the main auditorium prior to the poster session. Jason Ludmir, a doctoral student in computer science, was awarded “best lightning talk” for his presentation on using quantum computing to detect critical anomalous events that create a risk for equipment failure and reduced efficiency. Hossein Gazmeh, a doctoral student in civil and environmental engineering, won “best poster” for research examining public electric vehicle charging station infrastructure to assess sustainability and access in the context of urban development needs.
Efforts to connect experts from industry and national labs with early stage researchers are critical for keeping pace with emerging technology and shifting workforce needs, Ludmir noted.
“These interactions help bridge the gap between the challenges of energy and the potential of quantum and high-performance computing,” Ludmir said. “Rice’s interdisciplinary approach, especially between computing, health care and energy, is very impactful and is something my adviser Dr. Tirthak Patel continually emphasizes through our push to showcase real-world applications of quantum computing.”
Recorded sessions from the conference are available on the Ken Kennedy Institute YouTube channel. The next Energy HPC Conference is scheduled for Feb. 24-26, 2026.
Rice faculty Chan, Mellor-Crummey, Riviere, Heinkenschloss and Patel are members of the Ken Kennedy Institute, an interdisciplinary group committed to addressing critical global challenges through foundational research in AI and computing. Established in 1986, the institute fosters collaborative efforts to drive AI-powered discoveries across diverse scientific disciplines and champions ethical and responsible AI innovation.