Dr. Godwin A. Chukwu, Professor, Petroleum Engineering Department Dr. Chukwu has considerable expertise in the area of drilling and completion technology, economics, fluid mechanics and hydrodynamic modeling. He has successfully completed several projects in the past in the area of drilling, fluid hydraulics, ground water utilization and reservoir characterization from USDOE, USDI/BIA and ASTF. Dr. Chukwu was participating Scientist in the “Planning for Methane Hydrate Test Well in Alaska” with JNOC/JAPEX. Dr. Chukwu, currently is the Principal Investigator of the DOE funded project on GTL Transportation related research. Dr. Abhijit Y. Dandekar, Assistant Professor, Petroleum Engineering Department Dr. Dandekar has significant research experience in areas as diverse as PVT/phase behavior, miscible gas injection, compositional analysis, physical property measurements, measurement and modeling of interfacial tension, viscosity, rock and fluid properties, enhanced oil recovery, measurement of transport properties in polymers, refinery processes, and solid organic deposition. Dr. Dandekar has completed several projects of the Danish Department of Energy on Improved Oil Recovery and Productivity from Lower Cretaceous Carbonates of the Danish Continental Shelf, studies of miscible gas injection in the black oil reservoirs of the Middle East, compositional analysis of gas condensate and black oil reservoirs from Germany, and reservoir fluid studies of the UKCS.

Dr. Santanu Khataniar, Associate Professor & Chair. PETE, Petroleum Development. Laboratory

Dr. Khataniar has considerable research experience in the area of compositional reservoir simulation, EOS simulation, production and formation damage. He has worked in past, on USDOE, USDI/BIA and Alaska Science & Technology Foundation (ASTF) grants on Schrader Bluff reservoir characterization, ground water utilization and study of HC miscible slug injection for heavy oil production. He has also completed a project for ACS-PRF on compositional modeling of hydrocarbons.

Dr. David O. Ogbe, Professor, Petroleum Engineering Department

Dr. Ogbe has recently served as the Acting Associate Director of the Petroleum Development Laboratory, where he was responsible for coordinating research programs and the day-to-day management of the Laboratory. Dr. Ogbe has over 18 years of research and consulting experience in reservoir simulation and computational modeling, well testing, reservoir characterization and coalbed methane development for energy in rural Alaska. . He has served as Principal Investigator and managed or co-managed several successfully completed, multi-year research grants funded by the US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, Cray Corporation, State of Alaska, and national and international oil companies. Dr. Ogbe is a consultant to oil companies and has offered short courses on reservoir simulation, well testing and reservoir characterization. Dr. Ogbe is author of over 60 papers and publications. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Alaska.

Mr. Shirish L. Patil, Assiociate Professor, Petroleum Development Laboratory

Mr. Patil has over 15 years research experience in the area of Gas Hydrates, PVT/phase behavior, miscible/immiscible displacement, GTL transportation studies, asphaltene deposition studies and economics. He has managed/co-managed and successfully completed several multi-year USDOE, Alaska Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF), co-operative projects with international oil companies and other research grants. He was Co-PI on the Methane Hydrate Test Well Feasibility Study in Alaska with Japan Petroleum Exploration Company (JAPEX) and later was Co-Project Manager with planning of Methane Hydrate Test Well in Alaska a joint study undertaken by University of Alaska Fairbanks, Japan National Oil Corporation (JNOC), United States Geological Survey and Geological Survey of Canada. He has been PI or Co-PI of over 10 successfully completed projects. Mr. Patil is an author of over 50 technical papers and reports.

Dr. Tao Zhu, Assistant Professor, Petroleum Engineering Department

Dr. Zhu has over 20 years research and field experience in the area of enhanced oil recovery (EOR), heavy oil recovery, miscible and immiscible displacement, reservoir simulation and modeling, and petroleum production system and reservoir engineering. He has successfully completed several projects in the area of mobility control and sweep efficiency improvement in water and gas flooding, microbial EOR, and reservoir characterization for US Department of Energy, Gas Research Institute, and Oklahoma Mining and Mineral Research Institute. Dr. Zhu worked for major oil companies, such as Phillips Petroleum Company and China National Petroleum Corporation in the area of reservoir engineering, petroleum production system, and applied reservoir simulation. Dr. Zhu has published over twenty technical papers and research reports

Dr.Rajive Ganguli, Associate Professor, Mining and Geological Engineering Department,

Dr. Rajive Ganguli has extensive experience with geostatistics, neural networks and computer programming. He is presently developing a neural network for a project being funded by the Department of Energy, Usibelli Coal Mine and Golden Valley Electric Association, for which he is the PI. The network is presently under construction.

Dr. Sukumar Bandopadhyay, Professor of Mining Engineering

Dr. Bandopadhyay has served as the Director of Mining Minerals Resource Research Institute for a number of years administering grants from US Bureau of Mines. He also served as CO-Director of the Marine Mining Technology Center and was responsible for managing a research grant in the amount of $400,000. Currently he is the Principal investigator of a DOE funded project on Oxygen Transport Ceramic Membrane. It multi-year project with a total grant of over 3.15 million dollars. Dr. Bandopadhyay has worked on numerous research projects funded by the U.S. Government and private industries. He has extensive experience in methane flow in coal bed and degasification of methane prior to mining. Dr. Bandopadhyay has served as the Department Head of Mining & Geological Engineering for over seven years. At the present time, he is the Interim Dean of the School of Mineral Engineering. Prior to joining the academia, has worked as underground mine manager of a large underground coalmines, and underground metal mines in India. He has extensive experience with Operations Research, Neural Network, diesel engine testing, exhaust transport modeling, monitoring And control of diesel exhaust in underground mines, and related fields. Dr. Bandopadhyay has developed several Expert Systems and Fuzzy Systems for mining application. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Alaska.

Dr. Nagendra Nagabhushana, Research Assistant Professor, Mining and Geological Engineering Department

Dr. Nagendra has extensive experience in processing, testing and fracture of advanced materials – ceramics, composites, metals and alloys. He is presently working on DOE funded project on Oxygen Transport Ceramic Membrane, studying the mechanical properties and fracture mechanism in simulated gas environments.