The University of Houston System Board of Regents will meet Nov. 11 and vote on building a center for nuclear fusion energy at the system’s Technology Bridge research campus — a center the Legislature has not yet agreed to pay for.
The Texas Center for Nuclear Fusion Energy is the biggest item on the university’s wish list for the legislative session that opens in January. Houston is asking lawmakers for $50 million over two years and 55.5 staff positions to build what the request calls a center of excellence, working with Texas companies on the high-temperature superconducting magnets that compact fusion reactors need. Lawmakers will not rule on that money until next year. What the regents will settle Nov. 11 is where the center goes.
The underlying science is already in place. Venkat Selvamanickam, who directs the university’s Advanced Manufacturing Institute, won $8 million from the U.S. Department of Energy last year to study why superconducting magnets degrade inside fusion reactors. Houston also leads a consortium with Tokamak Energy, Texas A&M and Oak Ridge National Laboratory weighing whether Texas could host a fusion corridor, and it joined the Texas Nuclear Alliance in July. The Technology Bridge is the old Schlumberger campus on the Gulf Freeway, 74 acres of laboratories, warehouses and startup space. Nothing in the budget request or in the university’s list of board-approved construction projects places the fusion center there; the Nov. 11 notice is the first public document that does.
The board will also vote on dismissing a tenured faculty member, an action system policy reserves to the regents and the second faculty dismissal to reach them since August, when they approved a summary dismissal in the College of Optometry. The notice names neither the person nor the grounds, and no findings have been made public. The rest is consent-docket business: faculty hires, honorary degrees, a change to the use of income from the Enron Scholarship Endowment, and the authority the chancellor is given at each meeting to sign contracts above $1 million.
Whether the Legislature pays for the fusion center is a question for the spring. Whether it has an address is the question Nov. 11.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 1:00 PM, Wednesday, November 11, 2026, or on adjournment of the finance committee. TRD 2026006583 was filed November 4 at 5:08 p.m. The last regular meeting was August 20.
- Where
- Houston Grand Hotel — River Oaks, ballroom, mezzanine floor, 1919 Briar Oaks Lane, Houston. The system’s own calendar had listed the on-campus Hilton.
- Governing body & chair
- University of Houston System Board of Regents — nine voting regents appointed by the governor to six-year terms, plus a nonvoting student regent. Jack B. Moore, chair. Renu Khator is chancellor and university president.
- Format
- In person with a live stream. One open session, then a closed session on litigation, real property, a prospective gift, computer security and personnel, with action reported back in open session.
- Live video
- The system streams the meeting at uh.edu/bor-live; past meetings are archived by the university’s streaming service.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · board meetings page
Board of Regents
- Jack B. Moore — chair; Houston; retired chief executive, Cameron International.
- Ricky A. Raven — vice chair; Houston; deputy general counsel, Deere & Co.
- Gregory C. King — secretary; San Antonio; managing partner, EnCap Flatrock Midstream.
- Beth Madison — Houston; managing director, Higginbotham.
- Patrick J. Fertitta — Houston; director, Fertitta Entertainment.
- Bryan F. Clark — Friendswood; certified public accountant, Doeren Mayhew.
- Alonzo Cantu — McAllen; builder; chairman, Lone Star National Bank.
- Thomas A. Lucas Jr. — Harker Heights; optometrist; president, VIEW Optometry.
- Lynden B. Rose Sr. — Houston; attorney, HooverSlovacek.
- Christian A. Pepe — Houston; student regent, nonvoting; undergraduate.
All nine appointed seats are filled and the student regent seat is filled. Names and term dates are from the system’s roster page, checked November 5, cross-checked against the governor’s appointment releases: Patrick Fertitta in December 2025; Lucas, Rose, Clark and the reappointment of Cantu days later; Pepe as student regent in June 2026. Terms run to August 31 of 2027, 2029 or 2031; Pepe’s runs to May 31, 2027. The roster page still labels the officers as the FY2025-26 slate; the officers given here are the ones named on the Nov. 11 notice.