Faculty & Research Scientists
 | Philip C Bennett Aqueous geochemistry, geomicrobiology, environmental and microbial geochemistry, hydrogeology |
 | Daniel O Breecker Soil biogeochemistry, calcic soils, stable isotope geochemistry |
 | Todd Caldwell Dr. Caldwell is a hydrologist and geoscientist specializing in field investigations and numerical modeling associated with near-surface vadose zone hydrology, landscape evolution, and soil moisture/ET. His current research focuses on ecohydrology, soil moisture modeling and monitoring, restoration and characterization of disturbed lands, the characterization and scaling of soils and hydraulic parameters, near-surface geophysics, and parameter optimization and numerical methods. |
 | M Bayani Cardenas Hydrology and Hydrogeology |
 | Robert E Dickinson Climate, Global Warming, Land Surface Processes, Remote Sensing, Hydrological Cycle, Carbon Cycle, and Modeling. |
 | Ian J Duncan Expertise in geomechanic and geochemistry applied to: risks associated with CO2 sequestration; hydraulic fracturing for shale gas production; environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing; and the water-energy nexus. Current research focuses on the scientific, environmental and public policy aspects of unconventional natural gas production, the water-energy nexus, and carbon capture and storage. He has a particular interest in risk analysis, decision making, and legal/regulatory issues related to fracing, CO2 sequestration, CO2-EOR, and energy production. |
 | Peter Eichhubl Fault and fracture mechanics, diagenesis and low-temp. geochemistry, fluid flow and transfer processes in sedimentary basins, deformation mechanisms of the upper crust, structural control of mass and heat transfer in sedimentary basins, effects of chemical mass transfer on the mechanical and hydraulic behavior of fractures and faults, chemical interaction between fluids and minerals |
 | Peter B Flemings Stratigraphy, basin analysis, basin-scale fluid flow, pore pressures in seafloor sediments, submarine landslides, oil and gas migration, methane hydrates, Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) |
 | Sergey Fomel Computational and exploration geophysics; seismic imaging; wave propagation; seismic data analysis; inverse problems; geophysical estimation |
 | Bob A Hardage Seismic stratigraphy interpretation; reservoir characterization; acquiring, processing, and interpreting downhole and surface seismic data; multicomponent seismic technology |
 | Marc A Hesse Multiphase flow in porous media, geomechanics, numerical simulation, mathematical, modeling, reactive transport, magma dynamics. |
 | Seyyed Abolfazl Hosseini Research interests are mainly topics related to fluid transport in porous media. Current research includes: Enhanced Oil Recovery - Enhanced Gas Recovery - Upscaling and Upgridding - Above Zone Monitoring Interval - Reservoir Simulation and History Matching - Unconventional Reservoirs |
 | Susan D Hovorka Geologic carbon sequestration in deep sedimentary environments as part of carbon capture and storage. PI of the Gulf Coast Caron Center (www.gulfcoastcarbon.org) focused on research relevant to commercial development of geologic sequestration in regions where it is both needed and possible. Monitoring field projects. Petrography and sedimentology supporting hydrogeology in karst and contaminated systems. K-12 and public outreach and education. |
 | Farzam Javadpour Dispersion phenomena in porous systems (hydrocarbon reservoirs and brine aquifers); shale gas; CO2 injection up-scaling; EOR, EGR, and sequestration; nonotechnology in rock characterization. |
 | Carey W King Energy and renewable energy generation, usage, conservation, policy, and education; energy systems approaches; energy return on energy invested (aka. net energy); carbon capture and sequestration; nexus of water and energy; renewable energy and electricity integration |
 | Jay P Kipper Personnel management, fiscal reporting, budget management, contract negotiation, management of geological samples |
 | Stephen E Laubach Structural diagenesis, structural geology, fracture analysis, fluid inclusion and cathodoluminescence studies, rock mechanics, hydrocarbon exploration and development in deep and/or structurally complex areas, tight gas sandstone, coalbed methane, shale gas; geologic aspects of hydraulic fracturing, application of borehole-imaging geophysical logs to stress and fracture evaluation, structural evolution of North American Cordillera, fracture history of NW Scotland, regional fracture studies Argentina. |
 | Jung-Fu Lin Mineral physics, physics and chemistry of planetary materials, solid-Earth geophysics and geochemistry, high-pressure diamond anvil cell, X-ray and laser spectroscopy |
 | Jiemin Lu Diagenesis; CO2-rock-water geochemistry; stable isotopes; geology, geochemistry, and basin modeling related to CO2 geological storage. |
 | Timothy A Meckel Stratigraphy, structural geology, tectonics, CO2 sequestration, carbon capture and storage |
 | Kitty L Milliken Petrography and geochemistry of siliciclastic rocks; diagenesis; electron microbeam methods: X-ray mapping, cathodoluminescence imaging; micro-scale reservoir characterization |
 | Jean-Philippe Nicot Subsurface hydrology, numerical modeling and optimization of groundwater resources, multiphase flow and contaminant transport in both the unsaturated and saturated zones, geochemistry modeling and subsurface reactive transport, Mathematical geology, geostatistics, inverse modeling, optimization, risk assessment and risk analysis |
 | Jeffrey G Paine Near-surface geophysics in hydrogeology and environmental and Quaternary geology; coastal geology; Quaternary geology and geomorphology; computer applications in the geological sciences |
 | Katherine D Romanak Geochemistry and isotope systematics of carbon cycling in the vadose zone and in freshwater aquifers; soil-gas monitoring and surface gas flux measurements at CO2 sequestration sites; microbial influences on carbon geochemistry in the shallow subsurface; fate and transport of organic contaminants. |
 | Diana C Sava Statistical rock physics for reservoir characterization, quantitative integration of geological and seismic data, seismic fracture characterization, gas hydrates |
 | Bridget R Scanlon Evaluation of the impact of climate variability and land use change on groundwater recharge, application of numerical models for simulating variably saturated flow and transport, controls on nitrate contamination in aquifers |
 | Kyle T Spikes Exploration Geophysics, in particular rock physics applications and seismic inversion techniques for reservoir characterization. |
 | Ronald J Steel Dr. Steel's research is aimed at using clastic sedimentology to address problems in basin analysis, dynamic stratigraphy and clastic reservoirs. I am particularly interested to decipher the signatures of tectonics, climate, sea level change and sediment supply in stratigraphic successions. |
 | Alexander Sun Subjects: Carbon sequestration, hydrological modeling, computational geoscience, fracture/fault modeling Skill sets: Geostatistical modeling, inversion and optimization algorithms, numerical modeling, web-based decision support systems Programming: Matlab, Python, Fortran, C, ArcGIS |
 | Scott W Tinker Global energy supply and demand, Technology Administration, Multidisciplinary reservoir characterization, Carbonate sedimentology, Sequence stratigraphy, 3-D reservoir modeling, Resource assessment. |
 | Ramon Trevino Sequence stratigraphic interpretations (well logs, 3-D seismic), integrated reservoir characterization, subsurface correlation and mapping (using workstation and PC) and subsurface structural interpretation (using 3-D seismic), project management, CO2 sequestration |
 | Clark R Wilson Geophysics, including gravity, space geodesy, and applied seismology |
 | Brad Wolaver |
 | Zong-Liang Yang Dr. Yang's primary research interest is to understand the exchanges of momentum, radiation, heat, water, carbon dioxide, and other materials between the atmosphere and the Earth surface spanning from small (short) to very large (long) scales. This includes analysis of in-situ and remotely-sensed data for the Earth's surface, and modeling studies of weather, climate and hydrology at local, regional and global scales. |
 | Michael H Young Ecohydrology of arid and semiarid landscapes; groundwater recharge in both managed agriculture and natural (arid and semi-arid) systems; influence of soil structure and vegetation on water cycling; design and implementation of monitoring systems for above-ground and near-surface below ground environments. |
 | Mehdi Zeidouni CO2 EOR/sequestration, Cap-rock characterization, Leakage modelling |
 | Hongliu Zeng Seismic sedimentology; seismic geomorphology; seismic and sequence stratigraphy; Characterization of thin-bed reservoirs; seismic chrono-stratgraphy |
 | Tongwei Zhang Gas geochemistry and isotope geochemistry; Petroleum and gas generation kinetics and basin modeling; Fluid transport processes in basins and reservoirs; Organic-inorganic interactions; Unconventional gas reservoir characterization; CO2 sequestration and H2S risk prediction. |
Postdoctoral Researchers
 | Hui Wang system analysis; uncertainty quantification; inverse problems; Bayesian statistics |
 | Khandaker Zahid CO2 sequestration, Reservoir Characterization, Capacity Estimate, Sediment Provenance, Clastic Stratigraphy. |
Research Staff
 | Toti E Larson Dr. Larson is a stable isotope geochemist specializing in novel methods of light isotope measurement that include silicate laser fluorination, compound-specific carbon isotope measurement, and gas chromatography. His current research focuses on developing tracers to probe shallow (vadose zone) and deeper CO2 sequestration and unconventional reservoirs. He integrates experimental flow through column experiments with diffusion-advection modeling to understanding the behavior of tracer compounds in a variety of substrates. He also couples light isotope fractionation with ... |
