3+ Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Ana Amicarella of EthosEnergy, John Arnold of Centaurus Capital, Chris George of Octopus Electric Vehicles, and the 2024 Houston Innovation Awards judges. Photos courtesy

Editor's note: Every week, I introduce you to a handful of Houston innovators to know recently making headlines with news of innovative technology, investment activity, and more. This week's batch includes an energy leader, an electric vehicle expert, and more.

Ana Amicarella, CEO of EthosEnergy

Ana Amicarella, CEO of EthosEnergy, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss the company's growth amid the energy transition. Photo courtesy of EthosEnergy

For most of her career, Ana Amicarella has been the only person in the room who looks like her. But as CEO of Houston-based EthosEnergy, she's changing that.

"The energy sector for sure is highly dominated by men, but I think it's such an exciting environment," Amicarella says on the Houston Innovators Podcast. "What I try to do at every job that I go to is I try to increase representation — diverse representation and females in the company. And I measure that when I started and when I end. I want to be able to make a difference."

Amicarella joined EthosEnergy — which provides rotating equipment services and solutions to the power, oil and gas, and industrial markets — as CEO in 2019 a few years after it was in 2014 as a joint venture between John Wood Group PLC and Siemens Energy AG. Prior to her current role, she served in leadership roles at Aggreko an GE Oil and Gas. Read more.

John Arnold, founder of Centaurus Capital

A Houston company has raised funding from a local investor. Photo via Centaurus Capital

A Houston company has closed its series B extension at $25 million.

MetOx International, which develops and manufactures high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wire, announced it closed a $25 million series B extension. Houston-based Centaurus Capital, an energy-focused family office, and New System Ventures, a climate and energy transition-focused venture firm, led the round with participation from other investors.

"MetOx has developed a robust and highly scalable operation, and we are thrilled to partner with the Company as it enters this pivotal growth stage," says John Arnold, founder of Centaurus, in a news release. "The market for HTS is expanding at an unprecedented pace, with demand for HTS far outweighing supply. MetOx is poised to be the leading U.S. HTS producer, closing the supply gap and bringing dramatic capacity to high power innovations and applications. Their progress and potential are unmatched in the field, and we are proud to support their growth." Read more.

Chris George, United States co-lead at Octopus Electric Vehicles

Texas is positioned to be a great state for the EV industry, writes this expert. Photo via LinkedIn

As Texans continue to invest in electric vehicles, public charging needs to be able to meet an increased demand, according to Chris George, the United States co-lead at Octopus Electric Vehicles, who wrote a guest column for InnovationMap about the state's potential when it comes to EVs.

"As we look to the future of transport and energy, the synergy between NEVI and Tesla’s network should create a compelling narrative for those thinking about leasing an EV," he writes. "Combine that with exciting new battery tech and potential range improvements, fueled by West Texas wind and solar, Texas is positioned to be a great state for the EV industry." Read more.

2024 Houston Innovation Awards judges

Here's who's calling the shots for the 2024 Houston Innovation Awards. Photos courtesy

Ten Houstonians are in the hot seat for deciding the best companies and individuals in Houston's innovation ecosystem.

InnovationMap has announced its 2024 Houston Innovation Awards judging panel, which includes startup founders, nonprofit leaders, investors, corporate innovators, and more. In addition to the 10 judges, InnovationMap Editor Natalie Harms will serve as the editorial representative on the judging panel.

The selected judges will evaluate applications from the nearly 300 nominations that were submitted this year. The judges will be using their expertise to evaluate the nominees' applications, which are due to InnovationMap this week. Read more.

Ana Amicarella, CEO of EthosEnergy, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss the company's growth amid the energy transition. Photo courtesy of EthosEnergy

How this Houston business leader is promoting diversity, nimbleness amid energy transition

Houston innovators podcast episode 254

For most of her career, Ana Amicarella has been the only person in the room who looks like her. But as CEO of Houston-based EthosEnergy, she's changing that.

"The energy sector for sure is highly dominated by men, but I think it's such an exciting environment," Amicarella says on the Houston Innovators Podcast. "What I try to do at every job that I go to is I try to increase representation — diverse representation and females in the company. And I measure that when I started and when I end. I want to be able to make a difference."

Amicarella joined EthosEnergy — which provides rotating equipment services and solutions to the power, oil and gas, and industrial markets — as CEO in 2019 a few years after it was in 2014 as a joint venture between John Wood Group PLC and Siemens Energy AG. Prior to her current role, she served in leadership roles at Aggreko an GE Oil and Gas.

Recently, EthosEnergy announced it's being acquired by New York private equity firm, One Equity Partners, which Amicarella says is very interested in investing into EthosEnergy and its ability to contribute to the energy transition.

"What One Equity Partners will bring is tremendous decisiveness. They won't delay in deciding what is good for the company — I've already seen examples," Amicarella says, adding that the deal hasn't get been finalized. "They are going to make decisions and trust the management team, I think our pace of change will be enormous compared to what it used to be."

While EthosEnergy has customers from traditional oil and gas, she says she leads the company with the energy transition at the top of her mind, and that means being able to grow and evolve.

"One of the behaviors we look to have at EthosEnergy is an ability to be nimble," Amicarella says, "because we know market conditions change. Think of all the things we've had to go through in the last five years."

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Rice lands $15M U.S. Army award to launch next-gen wireless research center

defense funding

The U.S. Army Research Office has awarded Rice University $15 million to establish a new center for next-generation sensing and communications.

The five-year research center—dubbed the Center for Large Aperture Secure Sensing, Imaging and Communications (CLASSIC)—will unite researchers from universities and national laboratories to develop advanced antenna technologies for future wireless systems. Edward Knightly, the Sheafor-Lindsay Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice, will lead the center that “combines expertise in wireless networking, antennas, radar, artificial intelligence, circuits and physics to address growing demands on wireless systems,” according to Rice.

“The challenges we’re tackling require advances that span physics, hardware, communications and computing," Knightly said in a news release. “By combining those strengths in a single center, we can accelerate the development and demonstration of technologies that would not be possible through individual efforts alone.”

Joining Knightly will be Ashutosh Sabharwal of Rice, Sensen Li of the University of Texas at Austin, Hou-Tong Chen of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Danijela Cabric of UCLA, Josep M. Jornet and Tommaso Melodia of Northeastern University, Daniel M. Mittleman of Brown University, and Willie Padilla of Duke University.

Industry partners include Booz Allen Hamilton, Intel, Keysight, Lockheed Martin, MITRE, Northrop Grumman, Qualcomm and Raytheon.

CLASSIC researchers will investigate how large-scale antenna arrays (ELSAAs) can expand the capabilities of wireless systems where technology is limited.

ELSAAs use thousands of coordinated antenna elements to direct radio waves. Researchers aim to develop ways to use the technology to help maintain steady communication when signals are blocked or disrupted and to detect and generate detailed images of concealed objects.

Along with ELSAAs, the center will work to develop sensing techniques for threat detection, study wireless jamming and build resilient high-speed wireless networks. Researchers will ultimately validate the technology in labs and via drone-based field trials.

CLASSIC will also work on developing an AI-driven modeling framework that will simulate complex electromagnetic environments in real time.

“This award demonstrates Rice’s leadership in tackling complex national research challenges through collaboration across disciplines and institutions,” David Sholl, executive vice president for research at Rice, added in the release.

UH scores $18M NIH grant for chronic disease research

research funding

The University of Houston has received a coveted $18.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to launch a program to address the root causes of chronic disease.

Only 22 institutions nationwide receive this NIH award, and the 5-year process aligns with the newly established UH Health’s mission to expand healthcare innovations in Texas and beyond. The initiative will be housed in the UH Population Health department.

"This generous funding allows us to directly confront the root causes of chronic illness that place a heavy burden on so many families," Dr. Jonathan McCullers, vice president for health affairs at UH, said in a news release. "With the recent launch of UH Health, we have an unprecedented opportunity to translate scientific discovery into healthier outcomes for our communities by bringing together experts from across the university to improve health where it matters most.”

Through the program, UH researchers from different areas of expertise will work together to address the challenges of chronic illness by looking at biological, social and behavioral factors.

According to the university, chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, strokes and others are the leading cause of illness, disability and death in the U.S. They account for 90 percent of the nation’s $5.3 trillion in annual healthcare spending.

Bettina Beech, chief of population health and translational science at UH, serves as principal investigator for the program.

“Chronic disease management largely happens during the 8,700 hours each year that people are not visiting their healthcare provider,” Beech added in the news release. “While healthcare is indispensable, it only accounts for 20 percent of how health is created — genetics accounts for another 10 percent, and the other 70 percent is determined by behavior, social conditions and environment.”

With the funds from the grant, UH will also be able to expand research infrastructure, add to community partnerships, support complementary research, and invest in early-career investigators, according to the news release. UH also aims to develop solutions that could help ease the economic burden of chronic disease.

Report: Where Texas ranks among best and worst states to live in 2026

Texas Talk

After earning its worst-ever ranking last year, Texas has improved slightly on an evaluation of the best states to live, but it's still at the bottom of the pack.

Each year, WalletHub's analysts compare all 50 states using 51 livability metrics to measure their affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life, and safety. Factors that were weighed include the cost of living, homeownership rates, population and income growth rates, wealth gaps, public school system quality, road quality, crime rates, and many others.

The Lone Star State landed at No. 36 in 2026, making it the 15th worth state to live right now. That's on par with its 2024 ranking, and it's a two-spot improvement over its 2025 performance.

While Texas residents can brag about living in a state with the No. 1 highest number of restaurants per capita and the 7th best quality of life in the country, that's about it. Texas earned middling-to-poor scores among the four remaining livability rankings: safety (No. 33), affordability (No. 35), economy (No. 37), and education and health (No. 40).

Here's how Texas fared in other nationwide rankings in the study:

  • No. 27 – Income Growth
  • No. 30 – Housing Costs
  • No. 39 – Percentage of Population in Poverty
  • No. 42 – Percentage of Adults in Fair or Poor Health
  • No. 46 – Homeownership Rate
  • No. 49 – Percentage of Population Aged 25 and Older with a High School Diploma or Higher
  • No. 48 – Average Weekly Work Hours
  • No. 50 – Percentage of Insured Population

Texas has a lot of work to do to improve its livability for all of its residents, but especially for women, according to several other 2026 WalletHub studies. Texas is the fourth-worst state for women, the ninth-worst state for working mothers, and the seventh-worst place to have a baby based on limited access to maternal and pediatric healthcare.

At the very bottom of the report is New Mexico, ranking 50th overall, with Louisiana (No. 49), Mississippi (No. 48), Alaska (No. 47), and Arkansas (No. 46) rounding out the bottom five.

After holding on as the No. 1 best state to live for a few years in a row, Massachusetts now ranks No. 4 and was overtaken by Idaho (No. 1), New Jersey (No. 2), and Wisconsin (No. 3). New Hampshire rounds out the top five best states to live.

WalletHub's top 10 best states to live in 2026 are:

  • No. 1 – Idaho
  • No. 2 – New Jersey
  • No. 3 – Wisconsin
  • No. 4 – Massachusetts
  • No. 5 – New Hampshire
  • No. 6 – Wyoming
  • No. 7 – Utah
  • No. 8 – Minnesota
  • No. 9 – Pennsylvania
  • No. 10 – Florida
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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

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