People

Principal Investigator

Prof. Birol Dindoruk

• National Academy of Engineering (NAE) 2017
• Ph.D.: Petroleum Engineering, Stanford University, 1992
• M.Sc.: Petroleum Engineering, University of Alabama, 1987
• B.Sc.: Petroleum Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, 1984
• Email: bdindoru@central.uh.edu       and        bdindoruk@uh.edu
• Research Areas:
  • • • • • • • • • • • PVT and phase behavior of hydrocarbon fluids
                      • Flow in porous media and mathematics of multicomponent multiphase flow in porous media
                      • Equation of State Development
                      • Compositionally Graded Systems and Reservoir Initialization and Integration with Surveillance
                      • Fundamentals/Mathematics of flow in porous media for multi-scale applications
                      • Gas Storage and CO2 Sequestration
                      • Uncertainty analysis, decomposition of the physical processes & upscaling for the use cases, reservoir simulation, near wellbore aspects of sequestration
                      • Geothermal systems
                      • Gas Injection processes: Conventional and Unconventional applications
                      • Novel Solvents
                      • Miscible and Immiscible Gas Injection, Subsurface CO2 Sequestration
                      • Correlation development and basic data analysis
                      • Machine Learning and Data Analytics Applications to Petroleum Engineering Problem
                      • EOR/Improved Oil Recovery
                      • Field-scale modeling and reservoir performance management
                      • Numerical modeling/Reservoir simulation
                      • Fractured/Layered reservoirs

Research Associates

 

 Dr.Deniz Paker

• Research Associate since 2024
• Research Areas: Complex Phase Behavior, PVT, CCS, Underground Hydrogen Storage, EOR/IOR, Reservoir Characterization & Simulation
• Ph.D.: Petroleum Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, 2018
• M.S.: Petroleum Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, 2011
• B.S.: Petroleum Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, 2007
• Email: dmpaker@central.uh.edu

Current Students

 

Aruvin Prakasan

• Ph.D. student since 2020
• Research: Underground Hydrogen storage, CCUS
• M.S.: Petroleum Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP)
• B.S.: Petroleum Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP)
• Email: aprakasa@cougarnet.uh.edu

 

 

Abdulrahman Abdulwarith

• Ph.D. student since 2021
• Research: PVT and phase behavior, CO2-EOR, CCUS, Application of machine and deep learning in Petroleum Engineering, Drilling fluid
• M.S.: Petroleum Engineering, Cairo University
• B.S.: Petroleum Engineering, LSBU
• Email: amohame6@cougarnet.uh.edu

 

 

Sherry Oyagha

• Ph.D. student since 2021
• Research: CO2 dissolution in aquifer brines
• M.S.: Petroleum Engineering and Project Development, IFP School France
• B.S.: Petroleum Engineering, Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun
• Email: suetanir@uh.edu

 

 

Musa Ahmed

• Ph.D. student since 2021
• Research: CCUS petrophysics and geochemistry
• M.S.: Petroleum Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
• B.S.: Petroleum Engineering, University of Khartoum
• Email: meahmed@cougarnet.uh.edu

 

Jose Benavides

• Ph.D. student since 2022
• Research: CO2 sequestration modeling and machine learning
• M.S.: Petroleum Engineering, University of Houston
• B.S.: Petroleum Engineering, EMI (Military School of Engineering)
• Email: jabenav4@cougarnet.uh.edu

 

Mohamed Ammar

• Ph.D. student since 2022
• Research: CO2/Gas MMP development techniques and implementations for conventional and unconventional resources.
• M.S.: Petroleum Engineering, Texas Tech University
• B.S.: Petroleum Engineering, University of Tripoli
• Email: maammar@cougarnet.uh.edu

 

Moaz Hiba

• Ph.D. student since 2022
• Research: Complex phase behavior, CCUS, Machine learning application in Petroleum Engineering, Production enhancement
• M.S.: Petroleum Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
• B.S.: Petroleum Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
• Email: mhiba@cougarnet.uh.edu

 

Yao Shengyu

• Ph.D. student since 2023
• Research: Measurement and computational phase behavior in porous media
• M.S.: Petroleum Engineering, University of Houston
• B.S.: Petroleum Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology
• B.S.: Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum
• Email: syao6@uh.edu

 

 

Ahmed Kareb

• Ph.D. student since 2023
• Research: Multi-scale numerical simulation for EOR/CCS/EGS
• M.S.: Petroleum Engineering – Production of Hydrocarbons, University of Boumerdes
• B.S.: Petroleum Engineering, University of Boumerdes
• Email: akareb@cougarnet.uh.edu

 

Alok Kumar

• • • • • • • • • Ph.D. student since 2023 in “Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
                • Research: A Novel method for enhanced oil recovery
                • B.S.: Chemical Engineering, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology
                • Email: akumar59@cougarnet.uh.edu

 

 

 

Fatemeh Tale

• Ph.D. student since 2024
• Research: Modeling the geochemical reactions in porous media, Cryogenic CCUS
• M.S.: Petroleum Engineering, Shiraz University
• B.S.: Petroleum Engineering, Shiraz University
• Email: fstale@cougarnet.uh.edu

 

 

 

Lalitha Paturi

• M.S. student since 2023
• Research: Viscosity measurements of low volatility systems
• B.S.: Petroleum Engineering, Parul University
• Email: lpaturi@cougarnet.uh.edu

 

 

 

Imran Khan

• • • • • • • • • • • M.S. student since 2023
                    • Research: PVT and Complex phase behavior, Chemical EOR methods, Machine Learning applications for production optimization, Gravity energy.
                    • B.S.: Petroleum Engineering, University of Houston
                    • A.S.: Associate in Science, Houston Community College System (HCCS)
                    • Email: iekhan@uh.edu

Volunteer Research Associates

Dr.Daulet Magzymov

Dr.Swati Sagar

Sandarbh Gautam

Utkarsh Sinha