Interviewer : Jason Priest

Affiliation: University of Houston

Lou Wilkerson grew up in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and he took a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Arkansas. Subsequently, Wilkerson went to work for Shell in 1961, and later completed a master’s degree in chemical engineering. Wilkerson worked on a thermal project in East Texas, Arctic design projects, but predominantly on subsea and deepwater activities in engineering management. He helped to deploy Shell’s first subsea manifold experiment in the Gulf of Mexico in the late 1960s. Wilkerson also worked on the pipelines for the landmark Shell Cognac fixed platform. In the 1990s, Wilkerson was tapped to be the project manager for the massive Ram-Powell tension-leg platform. Wilkerson retired in 1999.