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This archived information is dated to the 2008-09 academic year only and may no longer be current.

For currently applicable policies and information, see the current Stanford Bulletin.

Energy Resources Engineering

Emeriti: (Professors) John W. Harbaugh, Sullivan S. Marsden, Jr.

Chair: Louis J. Durlofsky

Professors: Khalid Aziz, Sally M. Benson, Louis J. Durlofsky, Roland N. Horne, André Journel,* Franklin M. Orr, Jr.

Associate Professors: Jef Caers, Anthony R. Kovscek, Tapan Mukerji, Hamdi Tchelepi

Assistant Professors: Margot Gerritsen, Jennifer Wilcox

Courtesy Professors: Stephan A. Graham, Mark Jacobson

Lecturer: Louis M. Castanier

Consulting Professors: Ruben Juanes, Warren K. Kourt, Robert G. Lindblom, Kiran Pande, Marco R. Thiele

Acting Assistant Professor: James Lambers

* Joint appointment with Geological and Environmental Sciences

Department Office: GESB 065

Mail Code: 94305-2220

Phone: (650) 723-4744

Email: peteng@sesmail.stanford.edu

Web Site: http://pangea.stanford.edu/ERE

Courses offered by the Department of Energy Resources Engineering have the subject code ENERGY, and are listed in the "Energy Resources Engineering [ENERGY] Courses" section of this bulletin.

Effective September 1, 2007, the Department of Energy Resources Engineering (ERE) now awards the following degrees: the Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Engineer, and Doctor of Philosophy in Energy Resources Engineering. The department continues to award the Master of Science, Engineer, and Doctor of Philosophy in Petroleum Engineering. The department no longer awards undergraduate degrees in Petroleum Engineering except in cases where students declared Petroleum Engineering as their major prior to academic year 2007-08. Consult the ERE student services office to determine the relevant program.

Energy resources engineers are concerned with the design of processes for energy recovery. Included in the design process are characterizing the spatial distribution of hydrocarbon reservoir properties, drilling wells, designing and operating production facilities, selecting and implementing methods for enhancing fluid recovery, examining the environmental aspects of petroleum exploration and production, monitoring reservoirs, and predicting recovery process performance. The program also has a strong interest in related energy topics such as renewable energy, global climate change, and CO2 sequestration.The Energy Resources Engineering curriculum provides a sound background in basic sciences and their application to practical problems to address the complex and changing nature of the field. Course work includes the fundamentals of chemistry, computer science, engineering, geology, geophysics, mathematics, and physics. Applied courses cover most aspects of energy resources engineering and some related fields like geothermal engineering and geostatistics. The curriculum emphasizes the fundamental aspects of fluid flow in the subsurface. These principles apply equally well to optimizing oil recovery from petroleum reservoirs and remediating contaminated groundwater systems.

Faculty and graduate students conduct research in areas including: enhanced oil recovery by thermal means, gas injection, and the use of chemicals; flow of fluids in pipes; geostatistical reservoir characterization and mathematical modeling; geothermal engineering; natural gas engineering; carbon sequestration optimization; properties of petroleum fluids; reservoir simulation using computer models; and well test analysis. Undergraduates are encouraged to participate in research projects.

M.S., Engineer, and Ph.D. degrees may be awarded with field designations for students who follow programs of study in the fields of geostatistics, geothermal, crustal fluids, or environmental specialties.

The department is housed in the Green Earth Sciences Building and it operates laboratories for research in enhanced oil recovery processes and geothermal engineering. Students have access to a variety of computers for research and course work. Computers available for instruction and research include ten multiprocessor Windows 2008 servers within the department, as well as campus-wide computer clusters. Each graduate student office has one 3 GHz dual-Pentium 4 computer per student.

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