CarlosTorres-Verdín

UT PGE Professor Carlos Torres-Verdin
ProfessorBrian James Jennings Memorial Endowed Chair and Zarrow Centennial Professorship in Petroleum Engineering

Research Areas
Research Interests

Borehole geophysics; Petrophysics; Formation evaluation; Well logging; Rock physics; Multi-physics geophysical detection and imaging; Geophysical imaging of time-lapse subsurface phenomena; Inverse problems; Signal processing

About

Carlos Torres-Verdín has been teaching at UT Austin since 1999. Prior to joining the department, he worked for two years at the oil company YPF S.A. in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and for five and a half years at Schlumberger-Doll Research in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

Throughout his career, he has directed the Joint Industry Research Consortium on Formation Evaluation, created in 1997 as a research initiative put forth by Professors Ekwere J. Peters and Larry Lake. The IAP aims to develop and test novel methodologies for the integrated interpretation of well logs, rock-core measurements and seismic amplitude data.

His current research is focused on 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.

He was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Engineering of Mexico in 2017 and received honorary membership in the Society of Exploration Geophysicists the same year. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, with highly cited works on topics like digital rock physics for shale analysis and numerical modeling of subsurface processes.

Educational Qualifications

Ph.D., Engineering Geoscience, University of California, Berkeley, 1991
M.S., Electrical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 1985
B.S., Geophysical Engineering, National Polytechnic Institute of México, 1983

Select Awards & Honors

  • Desiderius Erasmus Award – European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE) (2025)
  • 2025 Outstanding Educator Award – Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) (2025)
  • Virgil Kauffman Gold Medal – Society of Exploration Geophysicists (2020)
  • Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal – Society of Petroleum Engineers (2019)
  • Texas Ten Award – The University of Texas at Austin (2018)
  • Academy of Engineering of Mexico (AEM) Corresponding Member (2017)
  • Honorary Membership – Society of Exploration Geophysicists (2017)
  • Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company Award for Excellence in Engineering Teaching – Cockrell School of Engineering (2017)
  • Conrad Schlumberger Award – European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (2017)
  • Society of Petroleum Engineers Distinguished Membership (2015)
  • Gold Medal for Technical Achievement Award – Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (2014)
  • Formation Evaluation Award – Society of Petroleum Engineers (2008)
  • Distinguished Technical Achievement Award – Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (2006)
  • Faculty Appreciation Award – UT Student Engineering Council, The University of Texas at Austin (2010)
  • Engineering Foundation Award – Cockrell School of Engineering (2001)
  • Departmental Teaching Award – Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (2002)

Select Publications

Google Scholar

Related News