Asghar “Oscar” Nosrati, BSCE 1979, MSCE 1982
Inducted in 2020

Asghar (Oscar) Nosrati immigrated to the United States from Iran in January 1974—right after high school—with an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to succeed. He initially took classes at the University of Louisville and Eastern Kentucky University before completing his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at the University of Kentucky. Believing a graduate degree would give him a competitive edge in the job market, Nosrati conducted research and authored academic papers on coal slurry pipelines while earning a master’s degree in civil engineering in 1982.

While working part-time as a maître d’ at the popular Campbell House in Lexington, Kentucky, Nosrati met several well-connected UK alumni. John Moren, president of a Houston-based engineering and construction company named Voss International, got to know Nosrati and offered him a job upon completing his master’s degree. Nosrati moved to Houston in 1981, where he rose through the ranks of Voss International and Fru-Con Group, first as a junior engineer, then project engineer and senior estimator.

As Nosrati excelled in managerial positions within the refinery and petrochemical construction industry, Moren recruited him to Parsons Corporation, where he took a director position. However, Nosrati’s entrepreneurial spirit kept him busy with side construction projects. Eventually, he and two friends pooled $200,000 to form an oil and gas exploration and production company named AmeriCo Energy Resources, LLC in 1998.

Today, AmeriCo Energy Resources is a multimillion-dollar E & P company operating hundreds of wells in several states in the U.S. Nosrati is one of the principals in the company and serves as executive vice president of acquisition and divestiture function. In addition, Nosrati launched Nosha Enterprises in 2008. As president and CEO, Nosrati grew Nosha Enterprises to a multimillion dollar commercial and residential real estate company in the Houston area. He considers AmeriCo Energy Resources and Nosha Enterprises to be his greatest professional achievements.

Nosrati and his wife, Shoaleh (BSCE 1979), are very active in the community and non-profit arena. They have a great passion for education. They work with and serve on different boards of several non-profit organizations dedicated to the arts, education and more. He is one the trustees of Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), a nonprofit organization that serves the interests of Iranian Americans, and he serves on its board of directors. In 1994, Nosrati taught construction management philosophy at Sharif University in Tehran, Iran.

Nosrati lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife, Shoaleh. They have three children and three grandchildren.