Two UT PGE Students Named Chevron Energy Fellows
-
May 24, 2024
Two Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering graduate students — Ibrahim Gomaa (PhD PE 2025) and Cynthia Oeiyono (PhD PE 2026) — have won 2024 Chevron Energy Graduate Fellowships.
Awarded by the Energy Institute at The University of Texas at Austin and made possible by a gift from Chevron, the program supports the work of outstanding graduate students conducting energy systems research. Gomaa and Oeiyono are among eight UT Austin graduate students selected this year.
Gomaa’s research employs molecular-scale simulations coupled with laboratory measurements to enhance hydrocarbon recovery and explore CO2 sequestration in unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. He plans to expand his research to assess the potential leakage of CO2 and hydrogen gases from geological storage sites, aiming to advance the safety and efficiency of these storage solutions. Gomaa is the recipient of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) 2023 Henry DeWitt Smith Fellowship and a member of the winning team in the 2023 Chevron National Engineering Week Competition. His work is supervised by Associate Professor Zoya Heidari.
Oeiyono’s research focuses on reducing the energy needed for CO2 absorption with amine-based solvents in order to make solvent regeneration more sustainable and affordable. In the future, she would like to expand the concept to underground CO2 storage. Before joining UT PGE, she worked as a reservoir engineer for Chevron Indonesia. Her research is supervised by Professor Kishore Mohanty, whose lab has conducted research on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) for the last 10 years.
“These students are at the forefront of the transformation of our global energy system,” said Brian Korgel, director of the Energy Institute. “The Chevron Energy Graduate Fellows program provides pivotal support for their work, enhancing our understanding of critical energy challenges and continuing UT’s global leadership in energy education, research, and innovation.”
This is the second year that UT Austin’s Energy Institute has awarded Chevron Energy Graduate Fellowships. Two UT PGE students — Misael Morales (PhD PE 2025) and Yuanrui Zhu (PhD PE 2025) — were among the inaugural cohort in 2023.
