Dr. Akhil Datta-Gupta will receive the 2019 SURA Distinguished Scientist Award in March. |
Image: Nancy Luedke
The Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) has announced that Dr. Akhil Datta-Gupta, University Distinguished Professor and the L.F. Peterson ’36 Endowed Chair in Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University, will receive its 2019 SURA Distinguished Scientist Award.
The annual honor goes to a research scientist whose extraordinary work fulfills the SURA mission “to advance collaborative research and education and to strengthen the scientific capabilities of its members and our nation.” The award and its $5,000 honorarium will be presented to Datta-Gupta on March 28 in conjunction with the SURA Board of Trustees meeting being held at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
“Dr. Akhil Datta-Gupta is a prolific researcher in petroleum engineering at the forefront of reservoir modeling and streamline simulation technologies,” said Dr. M. Katherine Banks, Texas A&M Engineering vice chancellor and dean. “In addition to his election to the National Academy of Engineering and two Cedric K. Ferguson Awards, Dr. Datta-Gupta has received numerous awards for his pioneering contributions to petroleum engineering.”
In his letter supporting the nomination, Mohan Kelkar, chairman and Williams Endowed Professor at the University of Tulsa’s McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering, wrote, “without question, Dr. Datta-Gupta has established himself as a preeminent expert in his field.” Noting the awards Datta-Gupta has received from the International Society of Petroleum Engineers, he added that such recognition is “a testament to Dr. Datta-Gupta’s innovative research and his ability to marry research with practical applications.”
Datta-Gupta received his bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad, India, followed by his master’s and doctorate from The University of Texas at Austin. His professional experience includes working in the Earth Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, an engineering specialist with BP Research in Cleveland and reservoir engineer with BP Exploration in Alaska. His academic positions at Texas A&M have ranged from assistant professor in 1994 to Regents Professor, University Distinguished Professor and his current endowed chair position.
He well-renowned in petroleum engineering and has worked in reservoir modeling, history matching and streamline simulation technologies for more than a decade. His research program is funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and oil companies worldwide, garnering over $10 million for his portion. He has directed more than 91 graduate students, including 43 Ph.D. students graduated, with 10 in progress. He has authored four books, 102 peer-reviewed journal articles, seven book chapters and 117 conference proceedings.
In addition to the Cedric K. Ferguson and numerous other awards, Datta-Gupta is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is a Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) honorary member (the highest honor bestowed by the society) and is the recipient of the 2015 SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty. He is an SPE distinguished member (elected 2001), distinguished lecturer (1999-2000), distinguished author (2000) and was selected as an outstanding technical editor (1996). In addition to his SPE awards, he is recipient of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers Rossiter W. Raymond Award (1992), the DOE Award for Outstanding Contributions to Basic Research in Geosciences (2008), and served as member of the Polar Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences (2001-2004) and the Technology Task Force of the National Petroleum Council (2007).
The SURA Distinguished Scientist Award was established in 2007, commemorating the organization’s 25th anniversary. SURA’s Development & Relations Committee manages the solicitation, screening and selection of the recipient from a SURA member institution. The president and trustee of each of SURA’s 60-member research universities is eligible to make one nomination for the Distinguished Scientist Award.
The annual honor goes to a research scientist whose extraordinary work fulfills the SURA mission “to advance collaborative research and education and to strengthen the scientific capabilities of its members and our nation.” The award and its $5,000 honorarium will be presented to Datta-Gupta on March 28 in conjunction with the SURA Board of Trustees meeting being held at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
“Dr. Akhil Datta-Gupta is a prolific researcher in petroleum engineering at the forefront of reservoir modeling and streamline simulation technologies,” said Dr. M. Katherine Banks, Texas A&M Engineering vice chancellor and dean. “In addition to his election to the National Academy of Engineering and two Cedric K. Ferguson Awards, Dr. Datta-Gupta has received numerous awards for his pioneering contributions to petroleum engineering.”
In his letter supporting the nomination, Mohan Kelkar, chairman and Williams Endowed Professor at the University of Tulsa’s McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering, wrote, “without question, Dr. Datta-Gupta has established himself as a preeminent expert in his field.” Noting the awards Datta-Gupta has received from the International Society of Petroleum Engineers, he added that such recognition is “a testament to Dr. Datta-Gupta’s innovative research and his ability to marry research with practical applications.”
Datta-Gupta received his bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad, India, followed by his master’s and doctorate from The University of Texas at Austin. His professional experience includes working in the Earth Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, an engineering specialist with BP Research in Cleveland and reservoir engineer with BP Exploration in Alaska. His academic positions at Texas A&M have ranged from assistant professor in 1994 to Regents Professor, University Distinguished Professor and his current endowed chair position.
He well-renowned in petroleum engineering and has worked in reservoir modeling, history matching and streamline simulation technologies for more than a decade. His research program is funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and oil companies worldwide, garnering over $10 million for his portion. He has directed more than 91 graduate students, including 43 Ph.D. students graduated, with 10 in progress. He has authored four books, 102 peer-reviewed journal articles, seven book chapters and 117 conference proceedings.
In addition to the Cedric K. Ferguson and numerous other awards, Datta-Gupta is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is a Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) honorary member (the highest honor bestowed by the society) and is the recipient of the 2015 SPE Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty. He is an SPE distinguished member (elected 2001), distinguished lecturer (1999-2000), distinguished author (2000) and was selected as an outstanding technical editor (1996). In addition to his SPE awards, he is recipient of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers Rossiter W. Raymond Award (1992), the DOE Award for Outstanding Contributions to Basic Research in Geosciences (2008), and served as member of the Polar Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences (2001-2004) and the Technology Task Force of the National Petroleum Council (2007).
The SURA Distinguished Scientist Award was established in 2007, commemorating the organization’s 25th anniversary. SURA’s Development & Relations Committee manages the solicitation, screening and selection of the recipient from a SURA member institution. The president and trustee of each of SURA’s 60-member research universities is eligible to make one nomination for the Distinguished Scientist Award.