People

Current Group Members

Barnabas Adeyemi

Position: Ph.D. Student; Hometown: Nigeria

Education History:

B.S:  University of Lagos

M.S: Kansas State University

Research Interests: Flow in porous media, flow and transport in geological formations, geomechanics

Profile: Google Scholar 

Zechen Ding

Position: Ph.D. Student; Hometown: Henan, China

Education History:

B.S: Yangtze University at Wuhan 

M.S: China University of Petroleum at Beijing 

Research Interests: Cement sheath integrity 

Shuo Wang

Position: Ph.D. Student; Hometown: Ningxia, China

Education History:

B.S: China University of Mining and Technology 

M.S: China University of Mining and Technology / Freiberg University of Technology, Germany

Research Interests: Flow in porous media and fluid flow simulation

Mohammad Goli

Position: Ph.D. Student; Hometown: Hamadan, Iran

Education History:

B.S: Malayer University

M.S: Bu-Ali Sina University 

Research Interests: Flow in porous media and soil behavior

Oubai Elagab 

Position: Ph.D. Student; Hometown: Khartoum, Sudan

Education History:

B.S: University of Khartoum, Sudan

M.S: University of Aberdeen, Scotland 

Research Interests: Low salinity waterflooding, Digital rock imaging, Applications of environmental remediation in low-permeability clay

Mengru Zeng

Position: Ph.D. Student; Hometown: Sichuan, China

Education History:

B.S: China University of Mining and Technology

M.S: Chongqing University 

Research Interests: CO2 geological storage

Profile: ResearchGate

Misagh Esmaeilpour

Position: Ph.D. Student; Hometown: Tehran, Iran 

Education History:

B.S: University of Tehran 

M.S: Kansas State University  

Research Interests: Numerical and theoretical modeling of flow properties in porous/ fractured media, Geological storage of CO2 

Profile: Google Scholar 

Group Alumni

Alex Teng

Ph.D. graduate from Chen group in 2024

Position: Ph.D. Candidate; Hometown: Liaoning, China

Education History:

B.S: China University of Petroleum, East China

M.S: Technical University of Denmark / Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Ph.D.: Stevens Institute of Technology (2024)

Research Interests: Core analysis and core flooding experiments, Multiphase flow in ultra-low permeability porous media, Nanotechnology and other methods to enhance oil recovery, HPHT phase equilibria

Profile: Google Scholar   ResearchGate

Next Position after Chen's Group: Postdoc at the University of Texas at Austin 

Qingqi Zhao

Ph.D. graduate from Chen group in 2024

Hometown: Jiangsu, China

Education History:

B.S: China University of Petroleum, East China / University of North Dakota (visiting scholar)

M.S: University of Tulsa

Ph.D.: Stevens Institute of Technology (2024)

Research Interests: Underground Hydrogen Storage

Profile: ResearchGate

Next Position after Chen's Group: Postdoc at the University of Stuttgart, Germany

Ruichang Guo

Ph.D. graduate from Chen group in 2022

Hometown: Dongying, China

Education History:

B.S: China University of Petroleum, East China

Ph.D: China University of Petroleum, Beijing

Ph.D.: Virginia Tech (2022)

Research Interests: single/multiphase flow and transport in porous media, Lattice Boltzmann Method, Ultra deep horizontal well drilling technology. 

Profile: Google Scholar  ResearchGate

Next Position after Chen's Group: Postdoc at the University of Texas at Austin 

Hongsheng Wang

Ph.D. graduate from Chen group in 2022

Hometown: Shandong Province, China

Education History:

B.S: China University of Petroleum, East China

M.S: China University of Petroleum, East China & University of North Dakota

Ph.D.: Virginia Tech (2022)

Research Interests: Digital Rock, Image Processing, Machine Learning, Big Data, Fluid Flow Simulation.

Next Position after Chen's Group: Postdoc at the University of Texas at Austin 

Ming Fan

Ph.D. graduate from Chen group in 2019

Hometown:  China

Education History:   

B.S:   China University of Mining and Technology

M.S:  West Virginia University

Ph.D: Virginia Tech (2019)

Research Interests: My research is focused on interaction between reservoir depletion, proppant compression, and single-/multiphase flow in a hydraulic fracture and rock characterization using high-resolution imaging methods, such as SEM and FIB-SEM. 

Profile: ResearchGate   Google Scholar  

Next Position after Chen's Group: Postdoc at Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

Zihao Li

Ph.D. graduate from Chen group in 2021

Hometown: Wuhan, China

Education History:

B.S: China University of Petroleum, East China

M.S: Virginia Tech & China University of Petroleum, Beijing

Ph.D: Virginia Tech (2021)

Research Interests: Petrophysics / Enhanced oil recovery/ Fluid flow in porous media / Poroelasticity / In-lab experiments.

Profile: Google Scholar   ResearchGate   Personal website

Next Position after Chen's Group: Postdoc at Cornell Univeristy.

 Now working at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Weiyu Zheng

Position: Visiting Scholar; 

Hometown: Langfang, Hebei, China

Education History:

B.S: China University of Mining & Technology-Beijing

M.S: China University of Mining & Technology-Beijing

Research Interests: Rock mechanics and Hydraulic fracturing

Jing Zhang

Hometown: Shanxi, China; 

Education History:

B.S: Hunan University of Science and Technology, Civil Engineering;

M.S: Carnegie Mellon University, Civil Engineering.

Research Interests: Fracture Propagation, FEM, Two-phase Flow, Machine Learning, Deep learning, Computer Vision.

Yang Liu

Position: Visiting Scholar

Hometown: Suihua, Heilongjiang, China

Education History:

B.S: Wuhan University of Technology, China

M.S: Northeastern University, China

Research Interests: Numerical simulation and analysis of joint rock mass

Alkesh Rath

Position: Undergraduate Student; Hometown: Alpharetta, GA

Education History:

B.S : Mining and Minerals Engineering

B.S : Computational Modeling and Data Analytics

Minor : Green Engineering

Research Interests: To leverage Big Data technologies for Energy Distribution/Consumption solutions. 

Hedvig Unander-Scharin

Position: Undergraduate Student; Hometown: Clifton, VA

Education History:

B.S: Mining and Minerals Engineering 

Academic standing: Senior

Previous research: "Combining Big Compute and Big Data Technologies with ICTAS' Nanoscale Imaging Capabilities" with Dr. Cheng Chen