UW Faculty Member, Students Win Anadarko Fellowships

A University of Wyoming faculty member and seven students are recipients of Anadarko Fellowships for Excellence in Energy Scholarship for the 2012-13 academic year.

An endowment provided by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. funds the prestigious award for UW junior tenure-track faculty, doctoral students, and junior and senior undergraduate students.

The fellowships are competitively awarded to recognize and advance excellence in energy scholarship. They promote innovative and entrepreneurial research in areas aligning with Anadarko's energy portfolio, including oil and gas, environmental stewardship and reclamation, transportation, regulation and policy, and health and safety.

Here are the individuals receiving the fellowships for the 2012-2013 academic year, along with the topics of their research projects.

Faculty award

Po Chen, assistant professor of geology and geophysics in UW's School of Energy Resources.

Because of its advantages in resolution, accuracy and generality, full-wave tomography plays an increasingly important role in obtaining lithology and fluid properties of hydrocarbon reservoirs. Chen expects to implement a flexible, efficient and highly accurate full-wave tomography software for subsurface seismic imaging. He will present his research during the spring 2013 semester.

Graduate student awards

Morteza Akbarabadi, a doctoral candidate in petroleum engineering -- research on brine systems used to store carbon dioxide.

Mohammad Sedghi, a doctoral candidate in petroleum engineering -- research on modeling asphaltene-phase behavior in petroleum fluids.

Aaron Wood, a doctoral candidate in economics -- research on the agent-based modeling approach in energy markets.

Undergraduate student awards

Taylor Carlson, a junior in energy resource management and development -- research topic title is "HydroHome."

Alan Hamner, a senior in energy resource management and development -- research on the impact of gypsum and sulfur on soil water availability at well pad reclamation sites.

Taylor Sutter, a junior in chemical engineering -- research on nanoparticle hydraulic fracturing.

Travis Wyatt, a junior in energy resource management and development -- research on soil properties supporting successful reclamation over different landscapes in Wyoming.

The students will give presentations on their research results during the Energy Research and Development Symposium April 19, 2013, in the Wyoming Union Ballroom. The symposium is sponsored by the School of Energy Resources.