Personal Website: https://sites.utexas.edu/carlostorresverdin/ 

Industry Research Consortium: https://sites.utexas.edu/formation/ 

Educational Qualifications:

Ph.D., Engineering Geoscience, University of California, Berkeley, May 1991, Dissertation under Professor H. Frank Morrison: Continuous Magnetotelluric Profiling.

M.Sc., Electrical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, May 1985, Thesis under Professor Francis X. Bostick, Jr.: Implications of the Born Approximation for the Magnetotelluric Problem in Three-Dimensional Environments.

B.S., Geophysical Engineering, National Polytechnic Institute of México, February, 1983.

PGE Courses Taught:

PGE 358 - Principles of Formation Evaluation

PGE 368 - Fundamentals of Well Logging

PGE 385M - Advanced Well Logging and Correlation

PGE-385K - Advanced Multi-Well Formation Evaluation

PGE 383 - Inverse Problems in Subsurface Geophysics and Petroleum Engineering

PGE 310 - Formulation and Solution of Geosystems Engineering Problems

Research:

My current research is focused to the petrophysical, geophysical, mechanical, and geological description and quantification of the near-borehole region from core samples, geophysical measurements (open hole, logging-while-drilling, and cased hole), and in-situ permanent sensors. Three-dimensional seismic data, vertical seismic profiles, cross-well data (seismic, electromagnetic, tracers, etc.), well-interference measurements, tracer arrival data, and production information, are used to the extent that they provide a way to extrapolate laterally away from wells the petrophysical parameters estimated in the near-borehole region.

Awards & Honors:

2020 Virgil Kauffman Gold Medal, Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG), for an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the science of geophysical exploration as manifested during the previous five years, presented at the International Exposition and 90th Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas, October 11-16.

Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal, Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), for distinguished achievement in the identification and development of new technology and concepts that will enhance the process of finding or producing petroleum, presented at the SPE’s 2019 Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE), Calgary, Alberta, Canada, September 30-October 2.

2018 Texas Ten, annual list of the 10 most inspiring UT Austin professors, nominated by alumni and selected by the Alcalde magazine (published by the Texas Exes).

Elected Corresponding Member of the Academy of Engineering of Mexico (AEM) for “outstanding contributions to science and engineering in the US and the World.” June 2017.

Honorary Membership, Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG), presented at the International Exposition and 87th Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas, September 24-29, 2017.

2017 Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company Award for Excellence in Engineering Teaching, Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin.

2017 Conrad Schlumberger Award, European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE), in recognition of outstanding contributions to borehole geophysics, formation evaluation, petrophysics, rock physics and well-logging, presented at the EAGE’s 79th Conference and Exhibition, Paris, France, June 12-15, 2017.

2015 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Distinguished Membership, presented at the SPE’s 2015 Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, TX, September 28-30.

Gold Medal for Technical Achievement Award, Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA), presented at the SPWLA’s 55th Annual Logging Symposium in Abu Dhabi, UAE on May 19, 2014.

2008 Formation Evaluation Award, Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), presented at the SPE’s 2008 Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Denver, CO, September 21-24.

2006 Distinguished Technical Achievement Award, Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA), presented at the SPWLA’s 47th Ann. Logging Symposium in Veracruz, Mexico on June 6, 2006.

Designated “Outstanding Faculty” in the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, and awarded the Faculty Appreciation Award by the UT Student Engineering Council of The University of Texas at Austin, March 2, 2010. This award, voted on by students, is given out to one professor in each engineering department.

Engineering Foundation Award, College of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, September 21, 2001.

Departmental Teaching Award, Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, April 29, 2002.

Highlighted Publications and Google Scholar Profile:

Kelly, S., Mehmani, A., and Torres-Verdín, C., 2020, Leveraging digital rock physics workflows in unconventional petrophysics: A review of opportunities, challenges, and benchmarking: Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, v. 190, Issue July, pp. 1-12.

Du, Y., Mehmani, A., Xu, K., Kelly, S., Balhoff, M., and Torres-Verdín, C., 2020, Microfluidic diagnostics of the impact of local microfracture connectivity on hydrocarbon recovery following water injection: Water Resources Research, v. 56, issue 7, pp. 1-21.

Bautista-Anguiano, J., Torres-Verdín, C., and Strobel, J., 2020, Mechanistic 3D finite-difference simulation of borehole spontaneous potential measurements: Geophysics, v. 85, no. 4, pp. D105-D119.
Shahriari, M., Pardo, D., Picón, A., Galdran, A., Del Ser, J., and Torres-Verdín, C., 2020, A deep learning approach to the inversion of borehole resistivity measurements: Computational Geosciences, v. 29, no. 3, pp. 971–994.

Xu, S., Tang, X., Su, Y. D., and Torres-Verdín, C., 2020, Crack-induced shear-wave orthorhombic anisotropy: Modeling and inversion of shear-wave borehole measurements: Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth, v. 125, issue 3, pp. 1-19.

Maalouf, E., Torres-Verdín, C., and Liu, J., 2020, Application of Backus average to simulate acoustic logs in thinly bedded formations: Geophysics, v 85, no. 3, pp. D93-D104.
Luycx, M., Bennis, M., Torres-Verdín, C., and Preeg, W., 2020, Simulation of borehole nuclear measurements: A practical tutorial guide for implementation of Monte Carlo methods and approximations based on flux sensitivity functions: Petrophysics, v. 61, no. 1, pp. 4-36.

Mehmani, A., Kelly, S., Torres-Verdín, C., and Balhoff, M., 2019, Capillary trapping following imbibition in porous media: Microfluidic quantification of the impact of pore-scale surface roughness: Water Resources Research, v. 55, issue 11, pp. 9905-9925.

Mehmani, A., Kelly, S., and Torres-Verdín, C., 2019, Review of micro/nanofluidic insights on fluid transport controls in tight rocks: Petrophysics, v. 60, no. 6, pp. 872-890.

Schroeder, C. and Torres-Verdín, C., 2019, Experimental method for time-lapse micro-CT imaging of mud-filtrate invasion and mudcake deposition: Petrophysics, v. 60, no. 5, pp. 620-630.

Mehmani, A., Kelly, S., Torres-Verdín, C., and Balhoff, M., 2019, Residual oil saturation following gas injection in sandstones: microfluidic quantification of the impact of pore-scale surface roughness: Fuel, v. 251, September Issue, pp. 147-161.

Escobar, J. D. and Torres-Verdin, C., 2019, Permeability sensitivity functions and rapid simulation of multi-point pressure measurements using perturbation theory: Advances in Water Resources, v. 129, July Issue, pp. 198-209.

Luycx, M. and Torres-Verdín, C., 2019, Fast modeling of gamma-gamma density measurements via gamma-ray point kernel approximations: Geophysics, v. 84, no. 2, pp. D57-D72.

Luycx, M. and Torres-Verdín, C., 2019, Physics, applications, and limitations of borehole neutron-gamma density measurements: Geophysics, v. 84, no. 1, pp. D39-D56.

Medellin, D., Ravik, V., and Torres-Verdín, C., 2019, Nonlinear mixing law for magnetic resonance transverse-relaxation measurements of dispersed mixtures: Geophysics, v. 84, no. 1, pp. MR1-MR11.

Medellin, D., Ravik, V., and Torres-Verdín, C., 2019, Pore-size-dependent fluid substitution method for magnetic resonance measurements: Geophysics, v. 84, no. 1, pp. D25-D38.