Personnel
Peter Flemings: Director of GeoFluids Consortium, Dr. Flemings
specializes in stratigraphy and flow through porous media. He uses seismic,
well, and core data to characterize subsurface systems, and he uses theorectical
modeling to study stratigraphic and hydrodynamic evolution.
Curriculum
vitae
Demian Saffer: Dr. Saffer has done extensive work in analysis
and modeling of overpressure in accretionary prisms. He brings an extensive
geotechnical laboratory and great expertise in the study of fluid flow
in basins. His website can be viewed at http://www.geosc.psu.edu/people/faculty/personalpages/dsaffer/index.html
Curriculum vitae (pdf format)
Raymond Fletcher: Dr. Fletcher was formerly Professor of Geophysics
at Texas A&M, and a Research Scientist at ExxonMobil. His focus has been
the development of a theoretical basis for analyzing folding in layered
viscous materials.
Curriculum vitae (pdf format)
Turgay Ertekin: Professor Ertekin (Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering and George E. Trimble Chair) specializes in numerical modeling of multiphase fluid flow dynamics in porous media. He co-advises our students pursuing engineering analysis of drive mechanisms in reservoir systems. He has authored/co-authored three books in mathematical modeling of hydrocarbon reservoirs. His website can be viewed at http://www.egee.psu.edu/Faculty/ertekin.htm
Derek Elsworth: Professor Elsworth has interests in the areas of computational mechanics, flow and transport in porous media, geomechanics and the roles of fluids in mechanical processes. In recent years his main interests have been in describing the fluid flow, fluid transport, deformation and failure behavior of porous and fractured geological media. His website can be viewed at http://www.egee.psu.edu/Faculty/elsworth.htm
Insun Song: Research Assistant with the GeoFluidsIII group.
Christie Rosenhoover - Christie handles all administrative duties for the GeoFluidsIII Consortium including: managing program finances, processing contracts and creating reports.
Heather Nelson - Heather is responsible for management of all data that is used in the geofluids research. This includes logging of incoming data, loading of digital data on the geosciences system, database maintenance, and access/security of all data. Heather is the GeoFluidsIII webmaster and organizes the annual meetings.
Audrey Hucks, Ph.D.: Audrey received her undergraduate degree from Rice University with majors in geology and environmental engineering. She joined the GeoFluidsIII group in the fall of 2004 as an Ph.D. candidate. She is analyzing fluid flow in the Nankai Accretionary Prism for her thesis research and as part of GeofluidsIII is researching pore-pressure prediction and thrust belts. Her website can be viewed at http://www.geosc.psu.edu/~ahucks/
Hui Long, Ph.D.: Hui is a Ph.D. student studying the consolidation and physical properties of mudrocks with interests in direct pressure measurements and modeling pressure build-up and dissipation. He is part of a research team (jointly between MIT, Penn State, and TAMU) that is developing a new penetrometer (Temperature/Dual Pressure Probe: T2P) for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) to achieve rapid and reliable in-situ pore pressure and permeability measurement in low-permeability marine sediments. Hui came to Penn State with a B.S. degree in geology (Northwest University, China) and a M.S. degree in geological engineering (Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences). His website can be viewed at http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/h/u/hul109/
Derek Sawyer, Ph.D.: Derek Sawyer, M.S.: Derek studies stratigraphy and geohazards of deep-water environments. His study area is the Mars-Ursa region in the Gulf of Mexico. Rapid Pleistocene sedimentation of a sand-rich basin-floor fan and two channel-levee systems created a unique hydrodynamic system, infamous for driving extreme shallow-water flows. Derek will defend his M.S. thesis in April, 2005: "Late Pleistocene Deep-Water Depositional Elements in the Mars-Ursa Region, Northern Gulf of Mexico, Using 3-D Seismic and Wireline Log Data." He will continue working the Mars-Ursa Region as a Ph.D student in the Basin Research Group. Derek earned a B.S. in marine science from Eckerd College in 2002, participated in ODP leg 210 in 2003, and completed an internship with BP's geohazards group in 2004. His website can be viewed at http://www.geosc.psu.edu/~dsawyer/
Julia Schneider, Ph.D.: Julia Schneider is a Ph.D. candidate Germany that joined the GeoFluidsIII group in Fall 2006. Her interests are in overpressured fluids in deepwater petroleum fields. She is currently involved in fluid flow modelling and pore pressure prediction work as part of the GeofluidsIII group.
Jim Ashbaugh, 1997, M.S., Numerical and Analytical Models in Secondary Migration in Faults: Dynamic Controls on Hydrocarbon Column Height, employed at Penn General Energy
Beth Stump, 1998, M.S., Illuminating Basinal Fluid Flow in Eugene Island 330 (Gulf of Mexico) Through in situ Observations, Deformation Experiments, and Hydrodynamic Modeling, employed at ChevronTexaco
Thomas Finkbeiner, 1998, Ph.D., In-situ Stress, Pore Pressure, and Hydrocarbon Migration and Accumulation in Sedimentary Basins, employed at Geomechanics International
Jacek Lupa, 2001, M.S., Geopressure and Flow Focusing on the Slope of the Gulf of Mexico, GC 65, employed at ConocoPhillips
Joe Comisky, 2002, M.S., Petrophysical Analysis and Geologic Model for the Bullwinkle J Sands with Implications for Time-Lapse Reservoir Monitoring, Green Canyon Block 65, Offshore Louisiana, employed at ConocoPhillips
Brandon Dugan, 2003, Ph.D., Hydrodynamics of the US Mid-Atlantic Continental Slope, Offshore New Jersey, employed at USGS and Rice University
Ben Seldon, 2003, M.S., Reservoir Pressure and Sea Floor Venting: Predicting Trap Integrity in a Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Turbidite Minibasin, employed at Shell International Exploration and Production
Louanne Christopher, 2006, M.S., Forward Modelling of Compaction and Fluid Flow in the Ursa Region, Mississippi Canyon Area, Gulf of Mexico
Xiaoli Liu, 2006, Ph.D.: Dynamics of Shallow Marine Gas Hydrate and Free Gas Systems