R. Gerald Bailey, Ph. D — Oil and Gas Industry Advisor

Bringing decades of experience in the petroleum industry, Dr. Bailey has served in engineering, management, and senior executive positions around the world. As President of Exxon, Arabian Gulf, Abu Dhabi, and UAE, he was responsible for the coordination of all Exxon business interests in the Arabian Gulf. He was a liaison to local governments and served as Director of Abu Dhabi Onshore Oil Company and Exxon Qatar. Prior to that, he served as Assistant General Manager at Abu Dhabi Onshore Oil Company, Operations Manager of Qatar General Petroleum Corp., and Operations Superintendent at Exxon Lago Oil in Aruba.

Dr. Bailey holds a PhD in chemical engineering and is a graduate of the University of Houston. He regularly publishes and presents on both the science and business of oil and gas. Currently, he is Chairman of Bailey Petroleum LLC, a petroleum business development consulting firm and serves at the executive and board levels with several energy industry companies.

Dr. Bailey reports: “The process is quite an achievement and has so much potential. I am looking forward to helping get this process into wide use in the oil and gas industry as a highly portable, high-flow and chemical-free way to maximize oil recovery and re-use the huge amounts of water used in oil exploration today.”

Thomas H. Ulrich, Ph.D — Public-Private Sector Advisor

Dr. Thomas Ulrich has more than 25 years of experience in planning, securing funding, executing projects as a group leader and principal scientist in both the private industry and at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL). He has successfully identified internal and external researchers that have strategically partnered to pursue and capture a broad range of Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and private industry R&D funding opportunities. He has collaborated on biomass projects funded by the Department of Commerce and Department of Energy, and was most recently an INL Advisory Scientist in the Biological Science Department.

For his contribution to the Department of Energy’s seminal 2011 Billion-Ton Update, Dr. Ulrich received a Letter of Commendation and a Certificate of Appreciation from the Biomass Program of the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.  His areas of research include assessing the quality of biomass feedstock that is derived from genetically modified plants, and characterizing gene expression that impacts biomass productivity.

While at INL, Dr. Ulrich also collaborated with OriginOil in the design, implementation, and successful completion of OriginOil’s Phase 1 CRADA in February of 2009. This Phase 1 CRADA resulted in an unprecedented Energy Balance Model bringing algae-based fuels one step closer to reality. He has also contributed to the design of Phases 2 and 3 of the CRADA. Dr. Ulrich has been a key contributor to developing the Blendable Feedstock Standard, in which OriginOil is collaborating with the Department of Energy, and which has the potential to help reduce biofuel dependence on food crops. He has been a key supporter of OriginOil’s technology and offers tremendous value to the company as a highly regarded thought leader in field of biomass and bioenergy.

He earned his Ph.D. in Agronomy from the University of Illinois, Champaign–Urbana, Illinois.  Dr. Ulrich also holds a M.S. in Genetics from Washington State University and a B.S. in Zoology from Washington State University, Pullman, WA.

Vikram Pattarkine, PhD — Consulting Scientist

Vikram M Pattarkine, OriginOil’s Consulting Scientist, has a distinguished career spanning more than 25 years as a chemical-environmental engineer with expertise in processes related to waste treatment, nutrient management, water quality, and renewable energy. He has extensive international experience covering research, consulting, and training. He serves on several prestigious committees such as the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee of the Chesapeake Bay Program and the Municipal Wastewater Treatment Design Committee of the Water Environment Federation. He has authored chapters in manuals, peer-reviewed papers, and made technical presentations at conferences worldwide.

During its formative months, as OriginOil’s Chief Technology Officer, Pattarkine added outstanding value to the company by imparting scientific rigor to its technology development. Currently, he is charged with developing OriginOil’s wastewater-based algae production programs. Prior to joining OriginOil, Pattarkine was a senior vice president at Brinjac Engineering, Inc., an engineering design and consulting firm based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Before that he was director of process engineering at Columbia, Missouri-based Environmental Dynamics, Inc., a leader in the development, design, and manufacture of aeration systems for wastewater treatment. During the 1990s he led the Environment and Natural Resources Management consulting practice of Tata Consultancy Services, Asia’s largest consulting firm.

Pattarkine holds a PhD in environmental engineering from Virginia Tech and a Master of Technology in chemical engineering from Nagpur University, India. He is an adjunct professor of environmental engineering at the University of Missouri and has also taught graduate students at Pennsylvania State University.

Continue to Management Team»