Three PGE Faculty Members and a Senior Research Scientist Receive Prestigious SPE International Awards
Mojdeh Delshad, Jon Olson, Kishore Mohanty and Pradeepkumar Ashok have been awarded major international awards from the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) for their significant contributions to petroleum engineering.
The 2026 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) International Award recipients have been announced, and four members of the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (PGE) have been recognized for their outstanding contributions to the field.
PGE Research Professor, Mojdeh Delshad, received the 2026 SPE/AIME Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal for Technical Leadership, which honors distinguished achievement in the development of new technologies and concepts that enhance the process of petroleum exploration and production.
Delshad has more than 30 years of experience in multiscale modeling of chemical and gas enhanced oil recovery (EOR). She led the development of UTCHEM, the world’s most widely used reservoir simulator software for chemical EOR processes. Her high-quality research and leadership have advanced the understanding and simulation of multiphase flow, with emphasis on traditional and hybrid EOR. Since 2020, she has expanded her work to subsurface energy storage, focusing on hydrogen, heat and hydro energy in depleted oil and gas reserves. She is currently a member of the GeoH2 research consortium at the Bureau of Economic Geology.
She was named an SPE Distinguished Member in 2014, received the SPE IOR Pioneer Award in 2024, and was recently named a 2026 Distinguished Alumni in our department, recognizing her impact and excellence after receiving her M.S. and Ph.D. from the department in 1981 and 1986, respectively.
Cockrell Chair Emeritus in Engineering #17 Emeritus, Jon Olson, received the 2026 SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty, which recognizes educators who demonstrate superior classroom teaching, excellence in research, significant professional contributions and special effectiveness in guiding and advising students.
Olson’s passion for education goes beyond his role as a teacher and mentor. He regularly participates in public outreach trainings and programming on energy and engineering. He has an interdisciplinary background in geology and engineering, with research currently focused on production optimization and environmental impact issues related to hydraulic fracturing and unconventional oil and gas development. He has published papers on hydraulic fracture design and modeling, induced seismicity, wellbore stability and reservoir compaction, fractured reservoir characterization and subsidence.
W.A. (Monty) Moncrief Centennial Endowed Chair in Petroleum Engineering, Kishore Mohanty, received the 2026 SPE/AIME Honorary Member Award. The AIME Honorary Membership is the highest honor bestowed by the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (AIME), co-designated with the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) as an elite recognition limited to just 0.1% of total SPE membership.
Mohanty has served as executive editor on the SPE Journal Board, member of the JPT Special Series Editorial Review Board and chair of the SPE Reprint Series Committee.
His research focuses on the application of interfacial science and engineering principals to enhanced oil recovery and energy transition. In particular, his research team works on Shale EOR, Chemical Flooding, Gas EOR, Wettability Alteration, Carbon Storage and Geological Hydrogen Generation.
Senior Research Scientist, Pradeepkumar Ashok received the 2026 SPE Data Science and Engineering Analytics Award for his outstanding contributions to the global advancement of petroleum engineering in data science and engineering analytics. This is the first time that this honor was awarded to a drilling professional.
Ashok co-founded the Rig Automation & Performance Improvement in Drilling (UT-RAPID) research group in 2015. The team’s objective is to deliver sustainable well construction optimization solutions that address every aspect of the well lifecycle, including drilling and completions, across oil and gas, geothermal, waste injection and CCS/CCUS applications.
All four awards will be presented during the SPE Annual Awards Banquet at the 2026 Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE), which is scheduled to take place from October 21- 23, 2026.