Dr. Sara Abedi, assistant professor in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University, was one of two recipients of this year’s prestigious SPE New Faculty Research Grant.
This recognition draws attention to her excellence in commitment to academic research and student supervision, and is a way for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) to highlight the important role that young faculty members of such high caliber play in enhancing the educational environment of petroleum engineering departments and programs. She was given the grant during the SPE annual reception and banquet in Houston on Sept. 27. It comes with a monetary award of $50,000 per year for two years, which funds innovative research and the training and supervising of graduate students.
Abedi joined the department in January. She obtained her Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Southern California in 2012, and was a postdoctoral research associate for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
She currently teaches reservoir petrophysics to sophomore petroleum engineering majors. The course involves the theoretical and laboratory study of physical properties of petroleum reservoir rocks. Her research interests include experimental and theoretical microporomechanics, nano-chemomechanical characterization of porous materials, geomechanics, and granular material failure and flow.
Abedi’s research aims to identify the fundamental chemo-mechanical properties of geomaterials at the nano and microscale as a basis for upscaling these properties to the macroscale level of engineering applications. To address these challenges, she has launched the Geomaterials for Energy Use and Environmental Sustainability Laboratory. Using advanced experimentation and theoretical investigation, she develops scientific understanding, technological knowledge and a novel toolset to improve the sustainable engineering of geological materials and energy resources.