CSUB appoints new California Energy Research Center director

Katy Larson joins university after over 15 years in energy industry

By California State University, Bakersfield

September 5^th, 2025

Katy Larson discovered a love for science at a young age. She had a passion for examining the world around her, whether it was through doing an experiment or going on a class field trip.

“Since I was a kid, I knew I was going to go into the science field,” she said. “There’s a level of creativity involved with it that I love, being able to explore and be innovative. I always tell people that kids are natural geologists. They’re always picking up rocks and naturally exploring the earth.”

That fascination with science led Larson to pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology and resulted in a more than 15-year career in the energy industry. Now she is bringing her knowledge and expertise to California State University, Bakersfield.

Larson, a Louisiana native, has been appointed as the new director of the California Energy Research Center (CERC). She assumed the position in July.

“I’m happy to be here. It’s a great opportunity,” Larson said. “It’s been really nice getting settled into the role for the past month and getting to know the campus.”

Professor and Geological Sciences Department Chair Dr. Anthony Rathburn, who served for several years as an interim chair for CERC, said he is looking forward to seeing Larson implement her vision for the center.

“I am very excited that Katy is joining our CSUB team as the new director of CERC,” he said. “She brings a wealth of expertise, local knowledge and experience to the role, and her energy and new ideas will help propel CERC forward. We are very fortunate to have Katy to lead CERC during this critical energy transition.”

Larson first came to Bakersfield in 2013 when she joined Occidental Petroleum — which became the California Resources Corporation (CRC) — as a petrophysicist, a scientist who studies the properties of rocks with a focus on how they interact with fluids.

She worked for eight years at CRC, contributing to many field operations across California and participating in some of the company’s early carbon sequestration efforts. She continued to pursue carbon sequestration work at Battelle as a project manager.

Prior to joining CSUB, Larson worked for Tallgrass Energy as a geoscience compliance manager, where she built and led a carbon sequestration compliance and permitting program.

Larson holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from Louisiana State University and a master’s from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She originally intended to major in environmental science as an undergraduate but decided to switch to geology.

“I thought I’d stay in Louisiana my whole life and contribute to wetland science or something similar, and then I found geology. I loved how hands-on it was,” she said.

Although she didn’t initially intend to pursue a career in the energy industry, Larson’s interest grew the more she learned about the industry and interacted with representatives from energy companies when they would visit the universities to speak to students.

“I was drawn to the energy industry because I am a lifelong learner. There is never a shortage of learning opportunities and innovation,” she said. “I love the fast pace of the technology and research, as well as the day-to-day operations. I realized this is what I want to do.”

'The best of both worlds'

While working in Bakersfield’s energy industry, Larson developed relationships with some of the faculty members in CSUB’s Geological Sciences Department and came to learn about CERC. She has also attended the Carbon Management and Energy Innovation Technical Symposium that the center puts on every year.

When Larson learned that the university was hiring a new CERC director, she thought she would be a good fit for the position because she could leverage her experience in the private sector.

“It aligns with a lot of my strengths and my interests in education and in energy. I have a real passion for energy program management,” she said. “It gives me that opportunity to innovate, to learn. It allows me to continue to work with the corporate sector, but also to now enter this space where I get to work with educators. It blends the best of both worlds.”

Larson has ambitious goals for CERC. She wants to expand the scope of the center and see it become more well-known both in the community and beyond.

“We’re going to grow the center. The community has a lot of enthusiasm for it, and I want to leverage that enthusiasm,” she said. “Kern County is the leader of energy in the state and the nation. I want that to be recognized outside of the county, and CERC is a pivotal resource to educate the rest of the state. I want CERC to become even more known as a center for research and innovation.”

While Larson said CERC has focused heavily on issues such as carbon sequestration and energy economics, she wants to devote more attention to power energy research, alternative energy and issues such as the impact of artificial intelligence.

“AI is a hot topic with data centers being built on agricultural land, and you need energy to run them. Water is a huge issue,” she said. “I want to make the conversation with CERC wider to accommodate all of that. I want to broaden the scope of what CERC has traditionally focused on. By making it a wider discussion, it really brings in all the pillars of the economies within Kern County.”

Another key component of Larson’s goals for CERC is to increase student involvement with the program. She is excited about having more of an opportunity to interact with students and wants CERC to play a bigger role in encouraging more students to consider a career in the energy industry.

“Hopefully in a role like CERC, we can continue to open students’ eyes to the world around us,” she said. “I want to increase student involvement through internships and research opportunities. I hope we can open pathways up to students who didn’t realize energy is such a rewarding career.”