Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering

A pair of Texas Engineers are teaming up with scientists from France as part of a six-year-old collaborative research program.

Delia Milliron and D. Nicolas Espinoza were among the 2023 awardees of the Dr. Cécile DeWitt-Morette France-UT Endowed Excellence Fund. 

Matthew T. Balhoff will be the next chair of the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (PGE).

Balhoff, an expert in pore-scale modeling, reservoir simulation and microfluidics, is the Bank of America Centennial Professor in Petroleum Engineering and co-leads leads the Industrial Affiliate Program on Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery.

A new multi-disciplinary report that includes several Texas Engineers lays out the case for geothermal energy as the next big source of clean energy in Texas, with the ability to scale globally over the next few decades.

The study evaluates the size and potential scale of geothermal — the naturally occurring heat energy in the Earth’s subsurface. It also provides a scientific basis for informed decision-making as entities begin to consider the increased development of geothermal in Texas.

The University of Texas at Austin will be home to a new multidisciplinary research and education initiative based in its Cockrell School of Engineering – the Energy Emissions Modeling and Data Lab (EEMDL) – that will address the growing need for accurate, timely, and clear accounting of greenhouse gas emissions across global oil and natural gas supply chains. Data and analysis from this new endeavor will help both public and private institutions develop climate strategies and actions informed by accurate, verified data, identifying opportunities for emissions reductions.

Nine faculty members from across the Cockrell School of Engineering have earned the National Science Foundation's prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) awards. The awards provide up to five years of funding to junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of their organizations’ missions.

The University of Texas at Austin and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) have selected five projects to be funded by the Energize Program, a new opportunity for enhanced scientific collaboration between the two institutions focused on energy research. “I have no doubt that with the combined capabilities and expertise of SwRI and UT Austin, these projects will have a strong, positive impact on some of our greatest challenges in the energy sector,” said SwRI Executive Vice President and COO Walt Downing.

What do you get when you cross a geologist and a mathematician? A rock physicist of course. No that's not some kind of cheesy joke that flew over your head; it's the background of Zoya Heidari. She grew up hiking with her family, and her geologist dad had a habit of picking up random rocks off the trail and listing off everything he knew about them, which was a lot.

Led by the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, the Cockrell School of Engineering has launched a new sustainable energy minor, an 18-hour program available to students majoring in chemistry, environmental science, geological sciences, architectural engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical and computer engineering, environmental engineering, geosystems engineering and hydrogeology, mechanical engineering and petroleum engineering.

The University of Texas at Austin and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), a research organization that aims to improve the efficiency of conventional power generation and aid the integration of renewable resources, have created The Energize Program, a new opportunity to enhance greater scientific collaboration between the two institutions.

William “Tex” Moncrief, one of the first graduates of The University of Texas at Austin’s petroleum engineering program (B.S. 1942) and a pioneer in the oil and gas industry, died Wednesday, Dec. 29, at the age of 101. Moncrief, who served on The University of Texas System Board of Regents, was known for his philanthropy across the state of Texas, including his longtime support of UT Austin.

When Hurricane Ida smashed through Louisiana in August, it left a million people without power. As they tended to fallen trees and destroyed homes, a new problem emerged — no more fuel to power vehicles and generators. That’s when alumnus Hamzah Moin (B.S. Petroleum Engineering 2020) and fellow volunteers with the nonprofit Fuel Relief Fund (FRF) deployed to the state.

Maša Prodanović, an associate professor in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, earned two prestigious industry awards this month — she was named a Distinguished Member from the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), and she was awarded the Alfred Wegener Award from the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE).

PETEX, the Permian Strategic Partnership (PSP) and PetroSkills have joined together to develop the Catalyst workforce development program, a first-of-its-kind initiative to both assess existing educational curriculums and design a platform for future standardization and workforce integration. The program’s goal is to align industry training needs with the educational and training ecosystem’s ability to deliver those skills.

Figuring out how to efficiently extract heat from the earth’s sub-surface and use it as a power source is a priority across the energy industry. Cockrell School engineers are on the front lines of this push to learn more about geothermal energy and the best ways to harvest and utilize it.

The Cockrell School of Engineering has launched a first-of-its-kind program in graduate education at The University of Texas at Austin that allows participants to pursue career-focused course bundles that can be applied as academic credit toward a graduate degree.

When he’s not serving as a technical sales consultant at Halliburton, Omar Gomez (B.S. Petroleum Engineering 2012) is an advocate for STEM education, mentoring younger generations interested in pursuing an engineering career. As an active member of the Cockrell School’s Equal Opportunity in Engineering Program (EOE) during his time as a Texas Engineering student, Gomez shared with us his experiences in EOE and how the program positively impacted his life and set him up for success.

New research from The University of Texas at Austin finds industrial buildout in oil, gas and petrochemical sectors in the U.S. Gulf Coast and Southwest regions could generate more than half a billion tons of additional greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2030. That figure is equivalent to 8% of total current annual U.S. emissions. These emissions are driven by the regions’ oil and gas boom, and a substantial fraction comes from large industrial facilities such as new petrochemical plants, liquefied natural gas export terminals and refineries. The vast majority of these emissions will come from Texas and Louisiana.

With a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the Cockrell School of Engineering is launching a unique initiative that aims to make The University of Texas at Austin a national hub for geothermal energy expertise and startups. The new Geothermal Entrepreneurship Organization (GEO) will bring together engineers, researchers and entrepreneurs to develop technologies and launch companies to help advance the geothermal energy industry.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is investing $8 million in engineering research at The University of Texas at Austin that aims to create a more efficient process for recovering oil from naturally fractured reservoirs using engineered water. Water flooding is currently the cheapest and safest method, but also one of the least efficient in naturally fractured reservoirs. Finding new ways to make water-based enhanced oil recovery (EOR) more efficient and effective will help safeguard U.S. energy independence into the future.

Established in 1957, the Distinguished Engineering Graduate Award is the highest honor that the Cockrell School bestows on its alumni. The five distinguished engineering graduates for 2019 are innovators, entrepreneurs and highly respected leaders in their industries and communities. Including this year's honorees, 286 alumni have been selected for this award, recognizing them as highly respected professionals, dedicated engineers and supporters of higher education. We honor them for their dedication and generosity, and we are proud to call them Cockrell School alumni.