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People

Principal Investigator

D. Nicolas Espinoza

Associate Professor
200 E Dean Keeton CPE#5.104A
phone: +1 512 471 8280
email: espinoza@austin.utexas.edu

Postdoctoral Researchers and Research Scientists

Clay Wood

Postdoctoral Researcher in Geophysics and Geomechanics
Co-advised with Prof. Tisato
email: clay.wood@jsg.utexas.edu

Shuman Yu

Postdoctoral Researcher in Mudrock Geomechanics
email: shuman.yu@austin.utexas.edu

Zhao Xia

Postdoctoral Researcher in Geologic Hydrogen
email: zhao.xia@austin.utexas.edu

Gabriel Gallardo Giozza

Postdoctoral Researcher in Seal Integrity
email: gggiozza@utexas.edu

PhD and MS Students

Mohamed Awad

PhD Candidate
email: mohamed.awad@utexas.edu

Jinkyo Lee

PhD Student
email: jinkyolee@utexas.edu

Manav PAtel

PhD Student
email: manav.patel-1@utexas.edu

Renato Poli

PhD Student
email: rpoli@utexas.edu

Tirtharaj Mukhopadhyay

MS Student
email: tirtharaj@utexas.edu


Undergraduate

Collaborators and Visiting Scholars


Former Members

2025
Yuntian Teng
Postdoctoral Researcher
Currently at Pacific Northwestern National Laboratory
2024
Matthew L. McLean
PhD in Petroleum Engineering
Currently at Itasca
Agustin Garbino
MS in Petroleum Engineering
Currently at ResFrac Corporation
Javier Guerrero
MS in Petroleum Engineering
Currently at OXY
2023
Kiseok Kim
Postdoctoral Researcher
Currently Assistant Professor at Texas A&M
2022
Zihao Li
PhD in Petroleum Engineering
Currently Fulltime at ExxonMobil
2020
Xiaojin Zheng
PhD in Petroleum Engineering
Currently Postdoc at Princeton University
Toma Takahashi
MS in Petroleum Engineering
Currently Fulltime at JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation
Gabrielle Jacoby
BS in Petroleum Engineering
Currently Reservoir Engineer at ConocoPhillips
Gabrielle’s website
2019
Zhuang Sun
PhD in Petroleum Engineering
Currently at Dassault Systemes
Agustin Sosa Massaro
Visiting Scholar from ITBA (Argentina)
Now Researcher at ITBA
Yun Chen
PhD Visiting Student from University of Western Australia
Tong Liu
Visiting PhD Student from CUMT
Jeffery Luo
MS in Petroleum Engineering
Currently at Baker Hughes
2018                                                                                                                
Quentin Buck
BS Mechanical Engineering
Visiting student from Washington State University
Lawrence Chen
BS Petroleum Engineering
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Xiongyu Jasper Chen
Postdoctoral Researcher
Currently at CPGE
Eric Guiltinan
PhD in Geological Sciences
Co-advised with Prof. Bayani Cardenas
Currently at Los Alamos National Laboratory
Hojung Jung
PhD Candidate
Currently at ExxonMobil
Matthew Ramos
PhD in Geological Sciences
Co-advised with Dr. Steve Laubach
Currently at Chevron
Jenny Ryu
MS in Petroleum Engineering
Co-advised with Prof. Matt Balhoff
Currently at XTO Energy
Igor Shovkun
PhD in Petroleum Engineering
Currently Postdoctoral Researcher at Stanford University
2017
Michael Aman
MS in Petroleum Engineering
Rebecca C. Bussard
Undergraduate Research Assistant
BS in Physics – Pennsylvania State University
Luis A. Hernandez-Uribe
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Currently PhD Student in Geotechnical Engineering (UT Austin)
2016
Omar Makni
MS Student
Visiting Scholar from ENSTA ParisTech
Reynaldo Torres
Undergraduate Research Assistant
BS in Petroleum Engineering


Vacancies

  • PhD students: all students must apply first to our department to be considered (apply here: https://pge.utexas.edu/graduate/admissions). We select students from the pool of applicants that have been admitted to the program. Send me an email if you have any questions but your best shot is just apply to the link above. Applications by email are not taken.
  • Postdoctoral researchers: stay alert to announcements in my twitter or linkedin pages.

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News

Xenon Hydrate Growth in a Single Pore

Contact

D. Nicolas Espinoza

espinoza@austin.utexas.edu

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Contact

D. Nicolas Espinoza
espinoza@austin.utexas.edu

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