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UT PGE is set to host the annual SPE Local Paper Contest in the CPE building Friday, January 25. All students in the department are eligible to apply for the contest, which is divided into three divisions: undergraduate, masters and doctorate.

The students present for 20 minutes on their findings from a research project or internship for the opportunity to win a monetary prize. The judges, who are industry professionals, declare the three winners from each division at the end of all the presentations. The first and second place winners from each category move on to the SPE Regional Gulf Coast Paper Contest, hosted this year by UT PGE Saturday, April 25, where they will compete for a spot in the SPE International Contest.

“The Paper Contest is the signature SPE student competition and our students are always some of the top performing in our region and internationally,” said Dr. David DiCarlo, UT PGE Assistant Professor and SPE Faculty Advisor. “It is a great opportunity for students (at all levels) to present their work in front of senior industry professionals and for them to learn about the research the students are conducting in the department as well as out in the field.

UT PGE is thankful to this year’s sponsors for their support of the SPE Local Paper Contest:

Premier Sponsor: Pioneer Natural Resources

Lead Sponsors: Chevron and ConocoPhillips

Sponsor: Anadarko

The department wishes the students the best of luck in their presentations!

The UT PGE department is pleased to announce Drs. Matthew Balhoff and David DiCarlo will be promoted to Associate Professor in fall 2013. Both Balhoff and DiCarlo joined the department in 2007 as Assistant Professors.

A native of Louisiana, Balhoff came to UT PGE shortly after earning both his B.S. and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University. His research interests include chemical enhanced oil recovery, geological CO₂ storage, and reservoir simulation. Balhoff describes his research as “creative” and said he is “looking forward to making an impact in the energy sector, which faces some of the world’s most complex problems.” As a professor, Balhoff is known for his engaging teaching style and unique methodologies—he even learns all of his students’ names before the first day of class, which is no easy feat in a class of more than 100 students! In 2009, Balhoff won the UT PGE Departmental Teaching Award, in 2010 he was recognized by the Mortar Board Honor Society as a “Preferred Professor,” and in 2011 he won the ASEE Gulf Coast Southwest Outstanding Young Faculty Award.

On his promotion, Balhoff said, “I’m ecstatic to continue my tenure with the department, particularly educating our outstanding students, and working with some of the best researchers in the area of petroleum and geosystems engineering. What starts here truly changes the world.”

DiCarlo earned his B.S. in Physics from Case Western University, and both his M.S. and his Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell University. In his five years with the UT PGE department, DiCarlo’s teaching methods have garnered much praise, and he has earned a reputation as an enthusiastic professor who truly cares about his students. Twice, he has been nominated for ‘Favorite Professor’ in the UT PGE Department, and in 2008, he won the UT PGE Departmental Teaching Excellence Award. DiCarlo believes “part of being an effective teacher is being an effective learner.” He values the “give and take” of being a professor to some of the brightest young minds in the nation, saying, “engaging with students and answering their questions has allowed me to understand concepts that I can take back to my research.” His research includes chemical enhanced oil recovery, gas enhanced oil recovery, and geological C0₂ storage, with a focus on applying advanced experimental techniques to understanding fluid flow in hydrocarbon reservoirs. His research on saturation overshoot was spotlighted in the EOS Research Spotlight, EOS, 92, No. 21, May 24, 2011.

DiCarlo considers himself, “very lucky to have the opportunity to equip the next generation of petroleum engineers with the tools necessary to navigate the obstacles of maintaining a stable hydrocarbon supply and, best of all, continuing to challenge young minds.”

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Balhoff and Dr. DiCarlo on their promotions!

UT Austin was recently selected to host the 12^th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Technologies (GHGT-12) in October 2014. Since its inception in 1997, the GHGT series has quickly developed into the leading international conference on greenhouse gas technologies and typically attracts more than 1,200 attendees who come to listen to presentations on a variety of topics, from public perception to wellbore integrity and chemical looping. The conference is held every two years on an informal rotation between major cities in Europe, Asia, and North America. As members of the steering committee, Drs. Steve Bryant and Hilary Olson of the UT PGE Department are excited to bring the GHGT-12 conference to Texas’ capital city.

"The GHGT conference series is the key international venue for research and development on carbon capture and storage, which is a significant technology solution for preventing global warming,” said Bryant. “The selection of Austin to serve as the host city for GHGT-12 in 2014 reflects UT Austin’s worldwide prominence as a thought leader in greenhouse gas technologies.”

For more information about the upcoming conference, watch the GHGT-12 promotional video.

Cowboys are a part of Texas' legend and lore—not just on the open range, but also on the UT football field.

Deborah Hempel-Medina joined the Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering Department this fall as a lecturer teaching the PGE 333T Engineering Communication course. An alumna of the department, Hempel-Medina graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from UT Austin in 1993. She spent the next 19 years working in the energy industry and in 2001, earned her Master’s in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University. Most recently, Hempel-Medina undertook the role of Community and Safety Outreach for WPX Energy (formerly Williams), one of the nation’s largest natural gas producers.

When designing the curriculum for the Engineering Communication course, Hempel-Medina capitalized on her unique experiences in petroleum engineering and communication. Her course focuses on increasing students’ level of comfort with all forms of communication, from writing professional emails and technical papers, to conversing with recruiters and presenting in front of an audience. As a student, Hempel-Medina was “terrified of public speaking”—as a lecturer, she helps students move beyond this same fear.

Another key component of the course involves exploring engineering ethics, specifically, how to close the gap between the way engineers are ethically obligated to respond in any given situation above and beyond the way they are legally obligated to respond. Using case studies from recent events involving key players in the oil and gas industry, Hempel-Medina asks students to question the status quo and consider the myriad of ethical challenges they will encounter when entering the corporate world in a few years. This approach not only equips students with the tools to be successful in industry, but allows them an avenue to find their voice among many.

On returning to her alma mater, Hempel-Medina said: “It’s surreal to be back—the faculty has enabled this department to acquire such an outstanding reputation, so being classified among them is a privilege. I am honored to be a part of shaping the next generation of Longhorn petroleum engineers.”  

Hempel-Medina currently splits her time between Austin and Flower Mound (near Dallas), where she lives with her husband Kirk Medina and their two children, Luke and Amelia.

Recall back to your time at UT. Did you enjoy guest speakers? I did too. So, if you are an alumnus or alumna of the PGE department, and interested in giving a lecture during the PGE 333T classes related to engineering ethics or engineering communication within our business, please email Deborah Hempel-Medina directly.

This past fall, the PGE department hosted a contest for a simple demonstration of a physical concept relevant to any aspect of flow through subsurface, and mechanics of rocks and soils.

With a total of 13 entries, picking the winners was not easy. The top three prizes went to contestants who scored high on the following criteria:

     1. Relevance to subsurface engineering.
     2. Simplicity of the idea shown—it is easily understood by the public?
     3. Ubiquity— does it use everyday materials?

Bonus points were given for ease and repeatability of the experiments.

In 1st Place, with the most original idea:
Maryam Mirabolghasemi, PGE Graduate Student
“Sweet Fractures: H(on)ydraulic Fracturing”

Description: In this simple concept experiment, the experimenter induces fractures in watermelon by injecting honey into it.

In 2nd Place, with the most engaging experiment (students were directly involved in a competition):
Ayaz Mehmani, PGE Graduate Student
“Grain Packing”

Description: Porosity does not depend on grain size when the grains are all spheres of equal size. A larger grain size distribution equates to less porosity. This occurs because the smaller grains fit in-between the larger grains.

In 3rd Place:
Omar El-Batouty, PGE Senior
“Gas/Liquid Separation and Artificial Lift”

Description: These are simple ways to demonstrate simple petroleum reservoir and production engineering concepts. One concept serves to show gas/liquid separation in primary recovery, the other serves to show a simple concept for artificial lift.

All experiments will be shown at Explore UT in March 2013, but you are welcome to try these simple concepts out for yourself! Visit the Team Energy website for more information.

We are looking forward to seeing YOUR submission next year!

Maša Prodanović
Assistant Professor, PGE

A recent issue of The Alcalde, UT's Alumni Magazine, featured 22 Great Ideas on Energy — almost 20 percent showcased research from PGE.

The 2012 Distinguished Alumni weekend honored six outstanding graduates from the department; unveiled a new, technology focused learning center; and premiered “The Hunt.”

Houston. Dallas and Fort Worth. Midland. These fine locales have long been the Texas meccas for the international oil and gas industry.

“What starts here changes the world. We can’t afford to start going backwards on America’s commitment to diversity.” This quote was taken from a public statement made earlier this month on the steps of the Supreme Court by Kristin Thompson, a civil engineering major and student associate in the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, supporting the university in the Fisher v. The University of Texas at Austin case.

Since her freshman year, Thompson has been involved with the Black Student Alliance (BSA), a special interest student organization at UT Austin that is committed to “uplifting and empowering our community through academic improvement, social involvement, political awareness and action, with the ultimate goal of developing student leaders and uniting the black community.” Thompson served as president of the organization in 2010 during her junior year, when the Fisher case was in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. She worked with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund (NAACP LDF) to file an amicus brief supporting the university’s holistic admissions process—and the BSA would go on to file a second brief along with the NAACP LDF in the Supreme Court this year.

Thompson was among six students chosen to accompany President Powers to Washington, D.C., and was also selected to speak after President Powers in the press conference on October 9. In her statement, Thompson highlighted the benefits of diversity as they apply to every student who attends UT Austin, not just minorities. She explained, “Race is just one of numerous factors— in addition to scholastic excellence— that UT Austin considers on an individual basis. It’s about the whole person, not merely their color.”

During their visit, Thompson and her fellow students had the opportunity to meet the family of Heman Sweatt, a black man who was refused admission to UT Austin in 1950 on the basis of race. Sweatt would go on to become the first African American admitted into the UT School of Law after the Supreme Court ruled in his landmark case, Sweatt v. Painter. He is remembered today as an integration pioneer who set the stage for Brown v. Board of Education, a case that four years later would put an end to segregation in public schools. Thompson described her time with the Sweatt family as “insightful” and said that she feels “honored to be continuing on in his legacy of promoting interracial diversity and the impact it has on the university as a whole.”

On her involvement with the Fisher case, Thompson said, “Advocating for educational equality has shaped my post-graduate interests—I’m a civil engineer, but I’m also applying to Teach for America because I believe these issues are important.” Thompson is set to graduate from UT Austin in May 2013.

For more on Thompson's connection to the Fisher case, please see this recent article in the Washington Post.