ZoyaHeidari

Zoya Heidari smiling and holding railing in EER building on UT Austin campus.
ProfessorJ.H. Herring Centennial Professorship in Petroleum Engineering

Research Areas
Research Interests

Petrophysics; Borehole geophysics; Formation evaluation; Rock physics; Inverse problems; Integrated reservoir characterization of carbonates and unconventional resources; Completion petrophysics

About

Zoy Heidari joined the UT PGE faculty in 2015, a few years after earning her Ph.D. from the department. However, her career in academia began a few years earlier than that as an assistant professor and Chevron Faculty Fellow at Texas A&M University for four years.

While at Texas A&M, she developed a research program that would go on to become her Multi-Scale Rock Physics Industrial Affiliate Program. This research program focuses on developing advanced methods and workflows for integrating multi-scale formation data to enhance reservoir characterization of challenging formations. Her team’s research outcomes improve the evaluation of static and dynamic formation properties, which leads to enhanced reservoir characterization and production planning in both conventional and unconventional reservoirs

Heidari is a leader in the formation evaluation field and has published more than 275 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. Her research interests include Petrophysics, Borehole Geophysics, Well Logging, Formation Evaluation, Rock Physics, Inverse Problems, Integrated Reservoir Characterization of Carbonates and Unconventional Resources and Completion Petrophysics.

Heidari served as the Vice-President of Education for the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA) from 2016 to 2018 and a member of the SPE reservoir advisory committee since 2022. She also served as an executive editor for the SPE Journal (2022 – 2025) and an associate editor for the SPE Journal, SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering Journal and Geophysics Journal, and has been engaged in many other activities serving Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences professional communities.

Educational Qualifications

Ph.D., Petroleum Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2011
M.S., Biomechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, 2007
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, 2005

Select Awards & Honors

  • EAGE Alfered Wegener Award (2026)
  • The Lester C. Uren Award for Technical Excellence – Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) (2024)
  • Distinguished Technical Achievement Award – Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (2021)
  • Young Professional Technical Award – Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (2020)
  • Departmental Faculty Award – Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (2019)
  • Distinguished Membership Award – Society of Petroleum Engineers (2019)
  • Rossiter W. Raymond Memorial Award – Society of Petroleum Engineers and the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (2019)
  • Arie van Weelden Award – European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (2019)
  • Cedric K. Ferguson Medal – Society of Petroleum Engineers (2017)
  • Regional Formation Evaluation Award (Gulf Coast North America and Southwest North America Regions) – Society of Petroleum Engineers (2016)
  • Innovative Teaching Award – Society of Petroleum Engineers (2015)
  • TEES Select Young Faculty Fellows Award – College of Engineering, Texas A&M University (2014)
  • Best Paper Poster Award – Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (2014)
  • Petroleum Engineering Junior Faculty Research Initiation Award – Society of Petroleum Engineers (2012)

Select Publications

Google Scholar

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