Wei Zhang, doctoral student in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State University has been awarded the Nico van Wingen Memorial Graduate Fellowship in petroleum engineering for 2020. The fellowship is funded by SPE Foundation to support students who are pursuing doctoral degrees with the intent of a career in academia. The awardee will receive $5,000 per year, for a maximum of 4 years.
Wei’s research focuses on developing analytical solutions for coupled fluid flow and solid deformation in subsurface rocks while incorporating the deformation-induced permeability variation. He has published more than ten technical papers in different journals and conferences related to the oil and gas industry, including SPE Journal, Fuel, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, and Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering. Wei served as the president secretary of the SPE China University of Petroleum (East China) (CUPE) Student Chapter during 2015-2016, and helped to hold activities promoting the communication among petroleum-related universities and enterprises in China. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in petroleum engineering from CUPE.
“I feel really glad and honored to be recipient of the SPE Nico van Wingen Fellowship this year. I also felt a bit surprised when I got this news because the selection for this fellowship is very competitive. I would like to thank my adviser, professor Mehrabian, for providing helpful and detailed guidance on my research. Also, I would like to acknowledge professors Luis Ayala and Hamid Emami-Meybodi for their kind support on the preparation of my application materials. Also, I want to thank my colleague, Fengyuan Zhang [2019 recipient of the scholarship], who offered valuable suggestions on how to write the Statement of Purpose for the application,” said Zhang in Penn State’s announcement of the news.
The scholarship namesake Nico van Wingen worked as an evaluation engineer, consultant, and as professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Southern California. He played a major role in the development of oil production technology in the US, Austria, Canada, West Germany, Iran, Turkey and Venezuela.
[Image courtesy: Penn State University.]