Universities wrangling for energy professors

Forget comparative literature. Major research universities are now putting increased efforts behind recruiting experts in energy.

UC Davis said this week that it plans to recruit another dozen faculty members in the in the energy field during the next several years. They will participate at Davis' relatively new center for energy efficiency, being funded by the California Clean Energy Fund.

MIT, meanwhile, is trying to currently trying to add solar experts to its faculty, according to sources.

At Stanford, the Global Climate and Energy Project has been the recipient of some of the largest research grants at the school in the last decade.

Texas A&M and other schools in that state, of course, have been cranking out graduates and research papers for the energy industry for years. A&M has also opened a campus in Qatar to increase the ties between the school and the energy industry.

The push on energy comes at a time of rising job potential in the industry. ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and others have had trouble recruiting engineers in the past several years.