Peter Wallace PE, CEng, CMarEng, FIMarEST

Principal Engineer, Lloyds Register

Peter Wallace, PE, CEng, CMarEng is Principal Engineer in the Maritime Performance Services--Applied Technology Group of Lloyd’s Register, based in Houston Texas. He is a practicing naval architect working in the technology development, risk, and regulatory spaces in maritime and offshore in such topics as decarbonization, dynamic positioning, and structural digital twins. Peter holds a BSc in naval architecture and marine engineering from Webb Institute of Naval Architecture and an MBA from Tulane University. Peter is a Member of Corporation at Woods Hole Oceanographic.

Dr Alberto Morandi

Vice-President of Technology & Research, SNAME

Dr. Alberto Morandi is a Naval Architect with 40 years of experience in the maritime and offshore industries, developing solutions for Oil & Gas, Renewables, Construction, Carbon Capture, and Platform Re-use. He serves as SNAME Vice-President of Technology & Research, liaising with maritime nuclear groups such as MNAG and the ANS Maritime Task Force. He is a PE in the State of Texas and a Chartered Engineer in the UK as well as an expert witness to the Federal Courts of Texas and Louisiana and to the US Arbitration Association. Over 60 published papers and articles as well as speaking in conferences and industry panels, receiving an OTC best paper in 2022.

Bruce A. Strupp Jr.

Vice President ABB Marine & Ports - Marine Systems US & Canada, ABB

Bruce A. Strupp Jr. is Vice President at ABB, where he leads the company’s Marine Electrification new build business across the United States and Canada. ABB is a global leader in maritime vessel and port electrification and automation. With more than 30 years of experience in the global maritime industry, Bruce has held diverse roles spanning sales, propulsion and engine product development, strategy and business development, project management and ship operations. His broad technical and commercial background provides a unique perspective on the energy transition and digital transformation shaping the marine sector.

Before joining ABB, Bruce spent 21 years at Caterpillar Inc., building deep expertise in marine power systems and customer-focused solutions. Bruce is a graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Marine Systems Engineering. He previously held a Third Assistant Engineer’s License (unlimited tonnage, steam and diesel) and served in the United States Naval Reserve.

Dr Jian Shi

Associate Professor, University of Houston

Dr. Jian (Jason) Shi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Engineering Technology at the University of Houston. His research focuses on the interplay between artificial intelligence and power systems, deep decarbonization of the electric grid, maritime transportation electrification, smart grid physical and cyber security, and improving energy affordability and accessibility.

Dr. Shi has authored 55 peer-reviewed journal articles, two book chapters, 50 conference papers, and one U.S. patent. He has secured over $1.8 million in credited research funding and contributed to projects totaling over $9 million, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Academies, and various industry partners. He has been an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid and IEEE Power Engineering Letters since 2026.

His work has been recognized with numerous national honors, including the NSF CAREER Award (2024), the Early-Career Research Fellowship from the National Academies’ Gulf Research Program (2024), the DOE EnergyTech Faculty Explorer Award (2025), and the Best Paper Award at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting (2025). He was also named a President’s Circle Award recipient at UH (2025 and 2026), an Emerging Leader by the Offshore Technology Conference (2024), and an alumnus of the 2025 National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering (NAE-FOE) Symposium.

Dr. Shi has led global and interdisciplinary efforts, including the UH–Pandit Deendayal Energy University (India) collaboration on distributed energy systems and the Texas Higher Education Delegation to South Africa to promote inclusive energy transition strategies. He has supervised/co-supervised 9 Ph.D. students and mentored over 30 undergraduate senior design teams. His students have earned top national placements in competitions such as the DOE Carbon Management Collegiate Competition, Solar District Cup, and the UH Innovation Commercialization Competition.

He actively contributes to the professional community through participation in more than 10 IEEE working groups and task forces, including the IEEE Marine Systems Coordinating Committee, the IEEE Climate Change Technical Committee, and the IEEE PES Climate Change Committee. Since 2021, he has served on the Young Editorial Board of the journal of Applied Energy.

Prior to joining UH, Dr. Shi was an Assistant Research Professor at the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS) and an Adjunct Faculty member in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Mississippi State University, where he also earned his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2014. He is a Senior Member of IEEE.

Collin Weston

Director of Naval Architecture, Saronic

Collin Weston is the Director of Naval Architecture of Saronic, where he leads the development of new vessels and ensures the continued naval architecture excellence of all Saronic products.

Throughout his career, Collin has worked on a wide variety of hull forms including yachts, high-speed recreational craft, combatants, jack-up oil platforms, amphibious vehicles, unmanned underwater vehicles, hydro foiling vehicles, and inflatable craft. His experience also spans the full design-and-build process from early-stage concept work to leading at-sea testing.

Collin holds a MS in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the University of New Orleans, and a BS in Maritime Systems Engineering from Texas A&M University at Galveston.

Rich Byrnes

President and CEO, Blue Sky

Rich Byrnes is a global executive and creative leader with a passion for improving business and developing people. He has a track record of building organizations and leading diverse teams to solve complex management and technical challenges. A maritime and energy advocate, Rich advises organizations on business strategy and infrastructure.

Rich is President and Board Director with the Blue Sky Maritime Coalition, which comprises 100 members focused on accelerating innovation and efficiency in North American Shipping.  For 10 years prior, he was Chief Infrastructure Officer at Port Houston and preceding that, he was Vice President for Business and Technical Consulting at two global public oilfield service companies.

Rich’s career spans executive management, engineering, operations and consulting across transportation, supply chain, ports, shipbuilding, upstream, midstream and downstream oil & gas and the public sector. He started his career wintering over and managing logistics and supply chain at the South Pole, Antarctica, then became an oilfield engineer in Saudi Arabia and Syria. Later, Rich consulted with international and national oil companies, ports, transportation and shipping companies, shipbuilding and government clients world-wide.

Rich also chairs the entrepreneurship focused youth career development non-profit STEME.org, advises the Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI) and Houston Energy Leadership Cohort (HELC), is an adjunct professor of management at UMGC and former faculty on leadership at Texas A&M.

Rich holds two master’s degrees from MIT, one in Ocean Systems Management and another in Technology and Policy; and a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from UC Santa Barbara.