Biography
Michelle Michot Foss, Ph.D., is the fellow in energy, minerals & materials at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, helping to build capacity on non-fuel minerals supply chains. She has more than 40 years of experience in senior positions in energy (oil, gas/LNG, electric power) and environmental research, consulting and investment banking, with early career exposure to mining and mined land reclamation.
Michot Foss served in several positions at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston. She was the chief energy economist and head of the Bureau of Economic Geology’s Center for Energy Economics at UTA. She was a UH Shell Interdisciplinary Scholar with grants on North American gas and power integration and national oil companies. Her career research highlights include projects for local, national, and international government bodies — including the Texas Comptroller, U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, World Bank, Japan’s External Trade Organization and other institutions.
She led a university-based LNG industry consortium for North America. She implemented energy development assistance and engagement programs sponsored by USAID and the Department of State’s Bureau of Energy Resources in more than 20 countries and regions, including Central Asia, Ukraine, West Africa, Uganda, India, Bangladesh, and Mexico. She built and led the New Era in Oil, Gas & Power Value Creation program for energy sector professionals from more than 40 countries. Michot Foss was an executive instructor for the Texas Executive Education program at UTA’s McCombs School of Business and named an Exxon Mobil Instructor of Excellence. She served on the advisory committees for the UTA Jackson School of Geosciences Energy & Earth Resources graduate program and Jackson School Endowment.
She was previously a director of research at Simmons & Company International and at Rice Center. She is a member of the board of directors for Consumer Energy Alliance and serves on advisory boards and councils for Energy Intelligence Group, North American Energy Standards Board, and LNG Allies. She is past president of International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE); past president of United States Association for Energy Economics (USAEE); and was named USAEE Senior Fellow. Michot Foss is a partner in Harvest Gas Management, LLC.
Michot Foss received her B.S. from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, an M.S. from Colorado School of Mines, and a Ph.D. from UH.
For background on the Energy, Minerals & Materials program, see bakerinstitute.org/emm. For body of work from UTA's BEG/CEE, see beg.utexas.edu/energyecon/legacy.
Contact at michelle.m.foss@rice.edu or 713-348-3118.
Recent Publications
Permian Basin Leads the Way for Texas Oil Patch Growth, Spending
“For all of the pressure to paint the oil and gas businesses as riding off into the sunset,” fellow Michelle Michot Foss said of the fossil fuel investment boom, “the fact of the matter is that replacing these commodities will be exceedingly painful.”
Chinese Companies Are Flocking to Indonesia for Its Nickel
“China’s been ready and willing to invest in places where the U.S., European, even the Canadian, Australian companies haven’t gone,” said Michelle Michot Foss, a fellow at the Baker Center for Energy Studies who’s researched China’s growing hold over nickel.
Bad Energy Policy Ideas Never Die
2022 has brought another round of the same bad energy policy ideas, write Center for Energy Studies fellow Michelle Michot Foss and Lucian Pugliaresi in a recent commentary. Their simple solution to ongoing energy woes? Support the domestic oil and gas industry.