Heidari Wins International SPE Award for Technical Excellence
December 21, 2024
Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (UT PGE) Professor Zoya Heidari has won the 2024 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) the Lester C. Uren Award for Technical Excellence. The international award is given annually to one recipient for distinguished achievement in the technology of petroleum engineering. Dr. Heidari was officially recognized at SPE’s Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) in New Orleans in September.
Heidari directs UT Austin’s Multi-Scale Rock Physics Research Program, which conducts fundamental rock physics research in porous media to develop advanced methods for analysis and integration of multi-scale formation data (i.e., physical properties of rock-fluid systems from molecular to reservoir scale) to enhance characterization of petrophysically challenging rock formations. Examples of such formations include spatially heterogeneous, tight, unconventional and carbonate formations.
Heidari and her team jointly analyze the outcomes from experimental data, analytical rock physics model development, and numerical modeling to evaluate static and dynamic properties of rocks. The impact of her work is on improved description and quantification of complex subsurface rocks, with the intent to enhance description of multi-phase fluid transport, hydrocarbon production and recovery factors, subsurface geological gas storage, and characterization of geothermal systems.
SPE has previously honored Heidari with its international Formation Evaluation Award (2023); Distinguished Membership Award (2019); the Rossiter W. Raymond Memorial Award (2019) given jointly by SPE and the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (AIME); Cedric K. Ferguson Medal (2017); the Gulf Coast and Southwest North America Regions Formation Evaluation Award (2016); and the SPE Innovative Teaching Award (2015). She has also received prestigious awards from other technical societies including the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA) and the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE), including the SPWLA Young Professional Technical Award (2020), the SPWLA Distinguished Technical Achievement Award (2021), and EAGE Arie van Weelden Award (2019).
Heidari joined the UT PGE faculty in 2015 and in 2019 received the department’s Outstanding Faculty Award. She earned a PhD in Petroleum Engineering from the department in 2011, and an MSc in Biomechanical Engineering (2007) and BSc in Mechanical Engineering (2005) from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran.
Recipients of the Lester C. Uren Award must have been younger than 45 when the work being recognized was completed, and they automatically become SPE Distinguished Members. The award, established in 1963, honors petroleum engineering pioneer Lester C. Uren, and author, researcher and educator who wrote the first petroleum engineering textbook in 1924 and founded the first curriculum for petroleum engineering in 1915. An amplification of his textbook, now three volumes, is used as a standard reference work in most petroleum schools and oil companies.
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- Read about UT PGE research at the forefront of the energy transition.
- Meet more of our world-renowned faculty members.
- Apply to our top-ranked undergraduate and graduate petroleum engineering programs.
Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (UT PGE) Professor Zoya Heidari has won the 2024 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) the Lester C. Uren Award for Technical Excellence. The international award is given annually to one recipient for distinguished achievement in the technology of petroleum engineering. Dr. Heidari was officially recognized at SPE’s Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) in New Orleans in September.
Heidari directs UT Austin’s Multi-Scale Rock Physics Research Program, which conducts fundamental rock physics research in porous media to develop advanced methods for analysis and integration of multi-scale formation data (i.e., physical properties of rock-fluid systems from molecular to reservoir scale) to enhance characterization of petrophysically challenging rock formations. Examples of such formations include spatially heterogeneous, tight, unconventional and carbonate formations.
Heidari and her team jointly analyze the outcomes from experimental data, analytical rock physics model development, and numerical modeling to evaluate static and dynamic properties of rocks. The impact of her work is on improved description and quantification of complex subsurface rocks, with the intent to enhance description of multi-phase fluid transport, hydrocarbon production and recovery factors, subsurface geological gas storage, and characterization of geothermal systems.
SPE has previously honored Heidari with its international Formation Evaluation Award (2023); Distinguished Membership Award (2019); the Rossiter W. Raymond Memorial Award (2019) given jointly by SPE and the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (AIME); Cedric K. Ferguson Medal (2017); the Gulf Coast and Southwest North America Regions Formation Evaluation Award (2016); and the SPE Innovative Teaching Award (2015). She has also received prestigious awards from other technical societies including the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA) and the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE), including the SPWLA Young Professional Technical Award (2020), the SPWLA Distinguished Technical Achievement Award (2021), and EAGE Arie van Weelden Award (2019).
Heidari joined the UT PGE faculty in 2015 and in 2019 received the department’s Outstanding Faculty Award. She earned a PhD in Petroleum Engineering from the department in 2011, and an MSc in Biomechanical Engineering (2007) and BSc in Mechanical Engineering (2005) from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran.
Recipients of the Lester C. Uren Award must have been younger than 45 when the work being recognized was completed, and they automatically become SPE Distinguished Members. The award, established in 1963, honors petroleum engineering pioneer Lester C. Uren, and author, researcher and educator who wrote the first petroleum engineering textbook in 1924 and founded the first curriculum for petroleum engineering in 1915. An amplification of his textbook, now three volumes, is used as a standard reference work in most petroleum schools and oil companies.
Dig Deeper
- Read about UT PGE research at the forefront of the energy transition.
- Meet more of our world-renowned faculty members.
- Apply to our top-ranked undergraduate and graduate petroleum engineering programs.
