The San Antonio region can breathe a little easier, for now. In a December 2017 letter, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined it needed more current air quality data before reaching its final ground-level ozone designation for the area. But what would such a designation mean? How would...
Managing safety is important every day, but the year 2020 has plagued the oil and gas industry with challenges. The onset of COVID-19, coupled with the record free fall of prices, left oil and gas personnel frantically searching for answers while recovering from this shocking new life. Although historical,...
Over the past few decades, fiction writers and filmmakers have amassed an impressive array of apocryphal predictions, some not unlike the current coronavirus outbreak. In “Contagion,” Oscar-winner Steven Soderbergh presciently outlined a series of events bearing resemblance to COVID-19. Though the severity of the virus in the movie exhibited...
This past April, just ahead of futures contract expirations, the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil did something it’s never done—it went negative, all the way down to minus $37.63 per barrel. In short, U.S. exploration and production companies overwhelmed storage facilities, which essentially reached capacity.
At the...
Take a seat in a crowded coffee shop and try to find a person who is not digitally connected — easier said than done. Today’s consumer is constantly flooded by streams of information that influence behaviors and provide the ability to instantaneously connect and interact with people, brands and...
Today’s companies recognize the importance of conducting employment background checks. Background checks are an important component of most hiring practices. According to a national survey of HR professionals, 96% of employers conduct at least one type of background screening.
Whether organizations seek to verify previous employment and educational credentials, check...
This fall finds me teaching Honors College freshmen in an introductory course under the rubric of Energy. Other sections address themes such as Sustainability, Media and even Happiness.
The Honors Tutorial I is a required course for all Honors College matriculates. Instructors work with aspiring scholars on how to read,...
We’ve all been inundated with talk about healthcare reform for the past weeks, months and years. We are all too familiar with key concepts and buzzwords like pre-existing conditions, coverage under your parent’s plan and Medicaid expansion. While Congress is off on vacation, I wonder if maybe we could...
When used correctly, social and community investing can be valuable for growing your business. Social investing is the practice of investing in companies that fit with your personal beliefs, such as health-related companies or pet supply businesses. Similarly, if you are against smoking, you would probably not invest in...
Data breaches put not only your company and employees at risk but also your customers. Depending on the scale of a breach, your reputation could become significantly damaged, driving down profits and jeopardizing relationships and business with customers and clients.
According to the Ponemon Institute’s 2018 Cost of a Data Breach study,...
