Carlos Torres-Verdin Receives SPWLA 2014 Gold Medal Award
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March 31, 2014
UT PGE Professor and Associate Department Chair Carlos Torres-Verdin will receive The Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts’ (SPWLA) 2014 Gold Medal for Technical Achievement Award, a prestigious and international recognition, at the 55th Annual Logging Symposium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on May 18, 2014.
SPWLA is a nonprofit group dedicated to advancing the science of petrophysics and formation evaluation, and applying these techniques to the exploitation of gas and oil. Operating globally, SPWLA plays a major role in strengthening petrophysical education and providing information to scientists in petroleum industries.
The honor is given to an individual who has offered valuable technical contributions to the sciences of petrophysics, well-logging and log interpretation. Torres-Verdin is the youngest person ever to be selected for this award, and he is the first University of Texas at Austin professor to receive it. Torres-Verdin is now among a select group of scientists who have changed the formation evaluation field, including: H.G. Doll, Monroe Waxman, E.C. Thomas and G.E. Archie.
“I knew our group was spearheading unique research results, but I was surprised how fast the award came to me,” said Torres-Verdin. “Although almost all the researchers who have won in the past received the award for individual work, but from my end it was a group effort: graduate students, staff and post-docs. As a result of our hard work, multiple original, applicable contributions have been made to the industry in the fields of formation evaluation, well logging and petrophysics.”
Roland Chemali, Chairman of the SPWLA Award Committee, said Torres-Verdin received the award due to his leadership and vast number of accomplishments in the field.
“When Professor Carlos Torres-Verdin joined the faculty at UT Austin, he had a vision for developing models describing the wellbore-formation dynamical interactions, and how they are captured by the modern logging sensors,” said Chemali. “This ambitious objective sounded unrealistic to many of us, but 14 years later he has delivered on that vision and continues to forge ahead. Perhaps more importantly, Professor Torres-Verdin has mentored and graduated a great number of engineers and geoscientists who are transforming our industry for the better.”
With more than 130 published peer-reviewed papers, Torres-Verdin is not a stranger to receiving prestigious awards. In 2008, he received the Formation Evaluation Award from the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and in 2006 was granted the Distinguished Technical Achievement Award from SPWLA.
