Dr. Candi Hudson is currently the Senior Engineer Technical Advisor for the Emerging Technologies Branch (ETB) in the Office of Offshore Regulatory Programs (OORP) for the US Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) in Sterling, Virginia. Currently, Dr. Hudson is developing BSEE’s renewable energy research program and implementing studies addressing technology, performance, and regulatory gaps of concern. Dr. Hudson provides expertise in identifying and overseeing rapid innovative research programs addressing emerging technologies and regulatory gaps ensuring the safety of offshore energy renewable activities on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). She also conducts technical evaluations of requests to utilize innovative emerging technologies, and novel materials for energy activities on the OCS and supports forensic investigations of offshore incidents involving emerging technologies. 

 

Dr. Candi Hudson also served as the Response Research Branch Chief in the Oil Spill Preparedness Division (OSPD), Response Research Branch (RRB) for the US DOI BSEE.  She has held this role since 2018. In this role, she oversees Oil Spill Response Research and manages the Ohmsett test facility where full-scale oil spill response research, testing, and training are conducted in a simulated, in-situ marine environment.   

 

Dr. Hudson brings a diverse background in engineering, research, industry, and academia across numerous industries including defense, aerospace, aviation, intelligence, forensic investigations, energy, and alternative energy. Her extensive contributions encompass expert forensic identification of the root cause of failures as well as the development of emerging technologies utilizing novel materials for products and systems. Her innovative solutions ensure compliance with industry standards and federal regulations. She has conducted research, product development, and failure analysis in the following areas:  coal-water slurry fuels, corrosion, nanotechnology, alloys, composites, elastomers, carbon, ceramics, high-temperature applications, microscopy characterization, and materials properties test methods. 

 

Before her RRB role, Dr. Hudson was the Systems Reliability Section (SRS) Chief in the ETB in the OORP.  As the SRS Chief, she managed SRS/Quality Control-Failure Incident Team (QC-FIT) technical evaluations for offshore industry issues. QC-FIT technical evaluations focus on the identification of quality assurance/quality control concerns for equipment that may be insufficient for safe oil and gas operations and environmental protection on the Outer Continental Shelf. As SRS Chief, Dr. Hudson addressed a systemic global safety critical drilling equipment bolt failure which resulted in the replacement of 10,000 bolts globally. 

 

Dr. Hudson’s experience includes roles in industry, not-for-profit-laboratory, federal and municipal government, and academia. As a Senior Materials Scientist for Schlumberger, a multi-national company Schlumberger she championed the research, testing, development, and investigation of oilfield/drilling products and tools. At Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory as a Senior Materials Research Engineer, she developed high-temperature coatings for hypersonic ordnance defense applications and carbon nanotube composites for NASA spacecraft thermal load/payload reductions as well as wrote and procured grants for research. She was a Materials Research Engineer with Continental Carbon Company and began her career with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago as a Mechanical Engineer Trainee. 

 

Dr. Hudson has a foundation of academic credentials that includes a Bachelor of Science degree from Bradley University, a Master of Science degree from Prairie View A&M University in Mechanical Engineering,  and a Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park, Rice University (EX). She is a NASA-GSRP, NASA-GEM, NASA-Texas Space Grant, Sloan, and NSBE-Navy, NEBHE, and US Dept. of Education G.A.A.N.N. Fellow, a George M. Pullman Scholar (Bradley University), and NCAA Division IAA Track Scholarship recipient (Bradley University). Dr. Hudson is the recipient of the 2021 Women of Color in STEM Award Recipient for Outstanding Federal Government Technical Leadership. Recently she was selected as 2024 Marquis Who’s Who in America.