Olson and Srinivasan Promoted to Full Professor
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August 12, 2014
Drs. Jon Olson and Sanjay Srinivasan have been promoted to full professor effective September 2014. Both professors have made a significant impact on enhancing the department’s research, academics and outreach.
(Top to bottom: Olson and Srinivasan)
Olson joined the UT PGE faculty in 1995, after spending six years in industry working for Mobil (now ExxonMobil) in Dallas. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Olson earned his bachelor’s degree in both civil engineering and earth sciences, before going on to pursue his Ph.D. at Stanford University in applied earth sciences. With an interdisciplinary background in both geology and engineering, Olson brought a collaborative approach to the department that was well suited for the newly created Geosystems and Hydrogeology Engineering (GEH) undergraduate program. Soon after joining the department, Olson was given the role of faculty advisor for the GEH degree, and later took on this role for the petroleum engineering degree as well.
As the chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee, Olson devotes much of his time to the freshmen both as an academic advisor and a teacher of the introductory PGE 301 class, which is taken by all petroleum engineering students in the spring of their freshman year. Olson’s teaching philosophy is to engage students with the practical significance of engineering calculations and the intrigue of problem solving. He brings real world experiences to life for the freshmen, giving them an insider’s view of what it is like to be in the industry.
Olson’s research areas include: reservoir geomechanics, hydraulic fracturing, naturally fractured reservoir characterization, and unconventional resources. He is the co-PI of the industrial affiliates program, Fracture Research and Application Consortium (FRAC), which includes 20 companies and raises approximately $1 million a year.
On his promotion to full professor, Olson said, “It’s exciting is to be able to say that you’ve reached the highest recognition and position at the university, and it’s good to have that recognition from your peers. I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue doing my work both with engineering and geology, in collaboration with the Jackson School of Geosciences. Hydraulic fracturing and unconventionals are really hot right now, so I have students working on some really interesting projects, and that is always stimulating and rewarding.”
A petroleum engineer to the core, Srinivasan earned his bachelors of technology in petroleum engineering from the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad, his master’s in petroleum engineering from the University of Southern California, and his Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from Stanford University.
After a brief stint as an assistant professor at the University of Calgary in Canada, Srinivasan joined the UT PGE Department in 2002. His research areas include integrated reservoir characterization, reservoir engineering, and unconventional resources.
During his time in the department, Srinivasan has devoted much of his energy to recruiting top candidates to the graduate program. He serves as the graduate admissions chair, and in 2007, initiated the Summer Undergraduate Research Internship (SURI) Program, which attracts prestigious undergraduate students from universities all over the country to come work alongside UT PGE faculty conducting high level academic research in an effort to build a pipeline to the graduate program.
Srinivasan maintains a large research group, and is excited about tackling the changing face of subsurface engineering and issues related to hydrocarbon production. “We are finding out that we need new technologies for injecting high volumes of CO2 quickly into the subsurface,” said Srinivasan. “It brings up a whole bunch of challenges, so I’m tasked with learning new areas, such as nanoparticles, which haven’t been part of traditional petroleum engineering.”
On his promotion to full professor, Srinivasan considers it a privilege to be counted among the ranks of the prestigious UT PGE faculty. “When I was a student in India, I always read books by Larry Lake, and papers by Gary Pope,” said Srinivasan. “To then walk into this department and get to go to lunch with Larry Lake and Gary Pope, and meet all of these other innovators of the petroleum engineering field that makes your professional life even better. How many people can say they went to lunch with Larry Lake and Gary Pope?”
