In this article, Gaurav Agrawal of the SPE Research and Development Technical Section (RDTS) spoke with Matthew T. Balhoff, SPE, the department chair and a professor in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (PGE) at the The University of Texas (UT) at Austin.
This series highlights innovative ideas and analysis shaping the future of energy, with a focus on emerging technologies and their roadmaps, potential, and impact. With these conversations, we hope to inspire dialogue and accelerate progress across new energy frontiers.
Balhoff coheads the Industrial Affiliate Program on Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery and holds BS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from Louisiana State University.
He became an SPE Distinguished Member in 2017 and received the 2022 SPE Lester C. Uren Award for Technical Excellence, 2014 SPE International Young Member Service Award, and 2012 SPE International Teaching Fellow Award.
Balhoff currently serves as a director on the SPE RDTS and is an author of more than 100 peer‑reviewed publications and 40 conference papers in the areas of enhanced oil recovery, carbon storage, unconventional resource production, and fundamental processes of flow and transport through porous media.
RDTS: UT Austin’s petroleum engineering department has consistently earned the top global rating and remains a destination for both students and industry. What has gone into building this strength and sustaining its reputation?
Balhoff: The people behind our Hildebrand Department of PGE are exceptional. Their originality, deep appreciation for the industry and profession, and sustained drive for excellence have shaped a culture that resonates with our graduates and continues to attract top global talent and industry collaboration.
Our faculty, past and present, have authored foundational textbooks that remain industry references. Many have been recognized by SPE as Honorary Members and recipients of the Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal, John Franklin Carll Award, Lester C. Uren Award, and other major technical honors. Their research innovations have helped shape and, in many cases, revolutionize the petroleum engineering discipline.
Our alumni include industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and distinguished academics. To name just two, Scott Sheffield (BS, 1975), former CEO and chairman of Pioneer Natural Resources, and Horacio Marín (MS, 1994), current chairman and CEO of Argentina’s YPF.
Strong alumni engagement remains a critical factor in keeping the department at the forefront of the profession. Equally important, our outstanding staff create a welcoming, close-knit environment that students consistently highlight in senior exit interviews.
This culture has enabled a system that supports state-of-the-art education and research, fostering creativity, collaboration, and excellence. PGE recently moved into the Gary L. Thomas Energy Building and will move into the new Autry C. Stephens Engineering Discovery Building in the fall of this year. Both named after distinguished PGE alumni. Gary Thomas (BS, 1972) served as president of EOG Resources, and Autry C. Stephens founded Endeavor Energy Resources.
RDTS: UT Austin is known for producing innovation and innovators. Nick Steinsberger, a 1987 graduate, is widely credited with advancing modern hydraulic fracturing. Could you share a few innovators or innovations that you believe have had a particularly significant impact on the oil and gas industry?
Balhoff: It was a pleasure revisiting Nick’s contributions to slickwater hydraulic fracturing, as chronicled in popular books such as The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World and The Frackers. He is one of nearly 100 Distinguished Alumni of PGE. Each year, we recognize six alumni for their exceptional contributions to the industry, and selecting just six is always a challenge.
Several examples illustrate the breadth and depth of impact. Fred Fox (BS, 1949; MS, 1950) invented the spiral drill collar, a foundational advancement in drilling technology. George L. Stegemeier (MS, 1954; PhD,1959) had a distinguished career at Shell and made lasting contributions to thermal enhanced oil recovery, particularly steam-injection methods. He authored seminal work on steam-injection processes for heavy-oil recovery, led applied research on field-scale steamflooding, and developed the Stegemeier analysis for capillary trapping of oil droplets.
Don L. Sparks (BS, 1962), cofounder and longtime chairman of Discovery Operating and cofounder of Platt, Sparks & Associates Consulting Petroleum Engineers, helped pioneer cut-brine drilling systems—another innovation that significantly influenced drilling practices.
RDTS: Austin is often referred to as “Silicon Hills,” supported by signature events like South by Southwest (SXSW) and a startup ecosystem that has grown more than 12-fold since 2017. How do you encourage students to go beyond the formal curriculum to foster creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship?
Balhoff: We start before classes even begin. Our first-year, off-campus weekend retreat is designed to help students connect with classmates, faculty, and industry professionals while learning about the energy industry and what it takes to succeed both academically and professionally. Each student is paired with a senior student mentor known as a “PEN pal” who provides guidance as they navigate their first year.
Students engaging with professional organizations play an important role. Groups such as SPE give students opportunities to build technical and professional skills through activities like technical paper contests, networking at SPE conferences such as the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) and the North American Student Symposium (NASS), and exposure to different companies through weekly speaker meetings.
We also emphasize experiential learning. Students participate in real-world, team-based competitions sponsored and judged by industry professionals, including the Energy AI Hackathon and the Noble Drillship Competition. International exposure is another powerful catalyst for creativity. Students can study abroad for a semester or summer, taking petroleum engineering courses taught by UT Austin faculty in countries including Croatia, Norway, Ireland, Spain, and South Korea.
Finally, balancing academic rigor with summer internships is invaluable. These experiences allow students to apply classroom concepts in real settings, deepen industry understanding, and often spark curiosity that leads to innovation and entrepreneurship.
RDTS: The oil and gas industry has undergone several pivots in recent years, including energy transition pathways such as carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS), geothermal energy, and hydrogen. How do you ensure that curriculum and student training remain current with evolving industry and societal needs, while also laying a foundation that can shape the future of energy?
Balhoff: While the fundamentals of reservoir, drilling, and production engineering remain largely unchanged, we continually adapt our curriculum to reflect how the industry is evolving. Industry needs directly influence faculty research and graduate programs, and those insights are brought back into the classroom.
We introduce new elective courses each year to address emerging areas. These include artificial intelligence (AI) and subsurface machine learning, geothermal energy, CCUS, hydrogen storage, methane emissions, and related topics. We have also launched a sustainability minor and a new master’s program in subsurface energy engineering to broaden students’ perspectives and skill sets.
Importantly, learning is not confined to the classroom. We actively encourage participation in SPE technical paper contests, the PetroBowl, the UT PGE Energy AI Hackathon, the Noble Drilling Competition, industry field trips, undergraduate research, and structured networking with industry professionals. Together, these experiences help students build both technical depth and adaptability, qualities that are essential for shaping the future energy workforce.
RDTS: New skill sets increasingly require AI and machine learning application knowledge and digital fluency across disciplines, and both the field and its educational toolkit are evolving rapidly. How do you view the importance of these capabilities, and how are they incorporated into student training?
Balhoff: AI and machine learning are rapidly being integrated across all facets of the oil and gas industry, and we view them as essential competencies for the next generation of engineers. In response, we have challenged our faculty to incorporate data science tools into every course, where appropriate, so that students develop familiarity and confidence using these methods throughout their education.
We also offer a dedicated subsurface machine learning course that has become highly popular, along with an annual Energy AI Hackathon that attracts nearly 200 student participants. These experiences help students move beyond theory, applying AI and data-driven approaches to real-world energy problems.
RDTS: AI is increasingly used by both students and faculty and is often viewed as both a nuisance and a powerful asset. How has this affected student learning and teaching practices, and what changes are needed to best harmonize AI as a supplement to education and workforce training?
Balhoff: This is an active and ongoing discussion within our department, as it is across universities worldwide. AI and large language models (LLMs) are here to stay, and we believe they should be embraced thoughtfully. Like any tool, they should serve as companions—not replacements—for foundational learning.
We teach basic arithmetic before allowing calculators, and similarly, we teach the fundamentals of reservoir, production, and drilling engineering before students rely on advanced software such as reservoir simulators. The same principle applies to LLMs. They can be valuable tools for students, particularly as they transition into the workforce, but only if students understand how to ask the right questions and, more importantly, how to recognize when an answer is incomplete or illogical.
We are actively experimenting with structured ways to introduce AI and LLMs into the curriculum while ensuring that students develop a strong grounding in engineering fundamentals.
RDTS: Knowledge is increasingly democratized through YouTube, online courses, and now AI tutors. How does this shift influence the future role of universities?
Balhoff: The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of online teaching tools, and more recently, AI-based tutors. Our key takeaway is that while these tools can enhance learning, they are not substitutes for in-person education, mentorship, and peer collaboration.
In many of our courses, we record lectures and make them freely available to students, and often to the public as well. We have also experimented with “flipped classroom” models, where students review lecture material independently and use classroom time for problem-solving with instructors and peers.
Several of our faculty maintain highly popular YouTube channels that host full course content. One notable example is Michael Pyrcz, widely known as the “Geostats Guy,” whose course videos have surpassed 1 million views. These resources are valuable for reinforcing concepts, and our data show that students who use them as supplements tend to perform well. However, students who rely on them exclusively are generally less successful.
Importantly, the broad reach of these platforms has increased awareness of our faculty and sparked greater interest in studying petroleum engineering, reinforcing the university’s role as both an educator and a trusted source of knowledge.
RDTS: Interdisciplinary education has long been a strength of the US education system. Yet it has been suggested that universities have become too generalist, even as some industries increasingly require greater depth to drive the next wave of innovation. How should universities respond to shifting student expectations while balancing the needs of industries that vary in breadth vs. depth?
Balhoff: I often tell our students that they are engineers first and petroleum engineers second. Our primary responsibility as engineering educators is to teach students how to think critically, stay curious, and, most importantly, learn how to learn. Many graduates begin their careers in roles adjacent to oil and gas, and many will pivot multiple times over the course of their professional lives. We cannot predict with certainty what the industry will look like in 10 or 50 years, so their skills must be transferable.
That said, I strongly believe that an education system grounded in technical rigor and depth, complemented by strong soft skills, such as team-based problem solving, oral communication, and professional networking, is the best preparation for long-term success. This foundation equips students with the adaptability needed to calibrate breadth vs. depth as their careers evolve.
RDTS: What feedback channels do you currently have in place with industry, and how can oil and gas companies further strengthen their partnership with the university education system?
Balhoff: PGE maintains an External Advisory Committee (EAC) comprising representatives from nearly 20 companies. The committee meets biannually, with additional interactions as needed throughout the year, and provides guidance on curriculum updates and the department’s strategic direction.
Beyond the EAC, companies engage with our students and faculty in multiple ways. These include sponsoring student organizations such as SPE, participating in industry lecture series, such as the Greening the Oilfield Speaker Series and graduate seminars, supporting the Energy AI Hackathon and the first-year fall retreat, and providing scholarships.
Industry collaboration also plays a central role in our research mission. Faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate researchers conduct leading-edge work through joint industry projects and one-on-one research contracts driven by real-world industry challenges. These interactions have been invaluable in keeping our programs relevant and impactful.
As PGE continues to grow and as the technology landscape evolves, we welcome expanded engagement, new partnerships, and fresh perspectives from industry.
RDTS: Let’s go back to your days as a college student. How have the college environment, faculty-student relationships, and the university’s role in society changed since then?
Balhoff: I began college in 1996, when the internet was still relatively new, smartphones didn’t exist, and AI belonged mostly to science fiction. I still remember my first college homework assignment: sending an email to my professor from a library computer. I stared at the screen for hours trying to figure out how to do it.
At that time, we didn’t have information instantly available at our fingertips and communication relied heavily on phone calls and in-person meetings with professors, teaching assistants, and peers. While technological advances, especially AI, offer tremendous advantages today, there is still no substitute for in‑person learning and human interaction.
The challenge now is finding the right balance: thoughtfully integrating modern technology while preserving proven approaches such as reading deeply, attending office hours, and learning collaboratively with peers. At PGE, this balance is reflected in our thriving peer tutor program, which students consistently praise as one of the most valuable parts of their academic experience.
RDTS: How can SPE be more effectively leveraged in a university’s mission for students, staff, and the industry?
Balhoff: SPE excels at engaging students and connecting them to industry through initiatives such as the SPE Paper Contest, PetroBowl, The Way Ahead, NASS, and the Young Talent Zone at SPE ATCE. To further enhance impact, SPE could expand outreach to student chapters by providing guidance on networking, job searching, and other essential professional skills that support long-term success in the energy industry.
Read the fifth article in this series, which highlights carbon removal innovation with Shantanu Agarwal, founder and CEO of Mati Carbon, which recently won the Musk Foundation’s XPRIZE.
Gaurav Agrawal, PhD, SPE, is a director of the SPE R&D Technical Section. He has organized events in energy transition, AI, and digital technologies, and other areas. Previously, he was senior vice president of R&D at Newpark Resources in Houston and vice president of the Saudi Arabia Dhahran Technology Center at Baker Hughes. He has been granted over 90 US patents.