PETROLEUM ENGINEERING
Graduate Programs
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering oers both a Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering and a Doctor of Philosophy
in Petroleum Engineering. There is a minimum core requirement of credit hours—18 for the MS and 21 for the PhD—in drilling, production, formation
evaluation, reservoir engineering, and engineering mathematics, as shown in the department’s Core Curriculum Requirements document. A secondary
concentration area consisting of a six-hours-minimum of earned credit in a specified field of study may be required by the advisory committee.
DEGREES OFFERED
MS in Petroleum Engineering
The MS program is open to students holding degrees in petroleum
engineering, other engineering disciplines, or science. It has two options—
thesis or non-thesis requiring a special project. The department-level
academic course plan for each student will be developed in consultation with
and approved by the graduate advisor and student’s advisory committee.
• The thesis option requires completion of 24 hours of approved
coursework—12 coursework-hours should be at the 7000 level
or above (excluding thesis hours) and six hours of credit for thesis
research. Students must have their thesis approved by the committee
and pass a comprehensive oral exam.
• The non-thesis option requires completion of 36 hours of approved
graduate coursework that may include three credits for the special
project and at least 18 hours at the 7000 level or above, including credit
earned for the special project. Students must pass a comprehensive
oral exam after completion of the special project. At the discretion of
the student’s advisory committee, a written exam may be required.
PhD in Petroleum Engineering
This degree is open to students holding an MS in petroleum engineering.
However, special programs involving additional coursework can be developed
for those with MS degrees in related branches of engineering science.
To become a doctoral candidate, a student must pass a qualifying exam,
meet the one-year residence requirement, and complete a minimum
of either 54 semester hours of approved coursework beyond the
BS or 30 semester hours beyond the MS. A minor is not required for
doctoral students, and the department recognizes the value of taking
courses outside of the curriculum to augment a student’s research and/
or expand a student’s knowledge in other areas. Therefore, a doctoral
student in petroleum engineering must meet at least one of the following
requirements:
• Acquire an approved minor or take 9-12 semester hours of courses
outside of the department. Courses must be selected by both the
student and his/her major professor and approved by the graduate
advisor and department’s graduate faculty. Courses must also
represent a logical and cohesive package that satisfies one or both
of the previously mentioned goals.
• The PhD is conferred after a candidate has successfully completed
the dissertation and passed the general and final exams.
GRADUATE
ADVISOR
Seung Ihl Kam, PhD
225-578-5216
ADMINISTRATIVE
COORDINATOR
Janet Dugas
225-578-3013
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FACULTY RESEARCH AREAS
Babak Akbari
[email protected] — drilling engineering, managed pressure
drilling, plugging and abandonment, drill bits, geomechanics
Mauricio Almeida
[email protected] — drilling engineering, MPD/DGD, well
control and blowout prevention, deepwater drilling/completion
Yuanhang Chen
[email protected] — downhole and surface measurement,
drilling fluids, drilling automation, geomechanics, UBD/MPD
Ipsita Gupta
[email protected] — multiphysics modeling of fluid flow, heat flow
solute transport in porous media, subsurface characterization
Richard Hughes
[email protected] — oil and gas reservoir engineering, CO2 EOR
and sequestration, production data analysis, pore-scale processes
Seung Ihl Kam
[email protected] — multiphase flow in pipes and porous media,
EOR applications, modeling/simulation, flow experiments
Olufemi Ololode
[email protected] — multiscale modeling of coupled physical
processes, uncertainty modeling, geomechanics
Dandina Rao
[email protected] — reservoir engineering, enhanced/improved oil
recovery, fluid-fluid and rock-fluid interactions
Jyotsna Sharma
[email protected] — flow in porous media, computational flow
mechanics in porous media, data analytics, machine learning
Karsten Thompson
[email protected] — pore-scale and multiscale modeling of
transport in porous media, computational methods
Mayank Tyagi
[email protected] — high-performance CFD modeling, fluid flow and
heat transfer, geothermal energy systems, upscaling algorithms
Paulo Waltrich
[email protected] — multiphase flows in pipes, artificial lift
systems, liquid loading production optimization, flow assurance
Wesley Williams
[email protected] — facilities engineering, thermal-hydraulic
analysis, multiphase flow
Andrew Wojtanowicz
[email protected] — drilling and completion, design/optimization
of well construction, environmental issues, water coning
Mehdi Zeidouni
[email protected] — flow in porous media, CO2 storage/EOR,
shale oil and gas, inverse theory to flow-based problems
