Team

Yingda Lu, Ph.D.

yingdalu@austin.utexas.edu 

Prof. Lu is the Chevron Centennial Teaching Fellowship Endowed Assistant Professor in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Prior to joining UT Austin, Prof. Lu was a research associate with the Tulsa University Paraffin Deposition Projects (TUPDP) at the University of Tulsa, a faculty member at China University of Petroleum (Beijing), and a postdoctoral researcher at the Reservoir Engineering Research Institute.

Prof. Lu has received numerous honors recognizing both his research and teaching, including selection to the 2025 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Emerging Leaders class, the 2025 Energy & Fuels Rising Stars, the 2021 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Regional Production and Operations Award, the 2024 Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering Teaching Excellence Award, and the 2023–2024 Dean's Award for Outstanding Engineering Teaching by an Assistant Professor. 

Saboor Khan  (2026 - Present)

Muhammad Saboor Khan is a Ph.D. student in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He holds a B.E. in Petroleum Engineering from NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan. Before joining UT Austin, he spent over eight years as a Production Engineer (EG-II & III) at Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), Pakistan’s largest E&P company. His industry experience includes well completions, workovers, rigless interventions, production optimization, and flow assurance in black oil and gas condensate fields, with a focus on paraffin deposition, scale management, and corrosion control. His research focuses on flow assurance, particularly paraffin deposition mechanisms, non-Newtonian fluid behavior, and multiphase flow and transport in offshore production systems.

Ibrahim Chaudhry  (2026 - Present)

Isaac Aliwewe  (2025 - Present)

Dinghan Wang (2024 - Present)

Dinghan Wang is a Ph.D. student in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering in China and a thesis-based master’s degree from Texas A&M University, College Station. His research focuses on machine learning, subsurface modeling, reservoir simulation, low-frequency distributed acoustic sensing (LF-DAS) fiber data analysis, and engineering decision-making.

Yuzhou Zhao (2021 - Present)

Yuzhou Zhao is a Ph.D. student in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Hydraulic Engineering from Tsinghua University, China. His research focuses on nanoparticle-enhanced polymer solutions for enhanced oil recovery. 

Hao Wang (2022 - Present)

Hao Wang is a Ph.D. student in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He earned a B.Sc. in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Alberta. After graduation, he worked as a measurement technician in Central Alberta, Canada, specializing in oil and gas meter proving. He later gained two years of experience in hydraulic fracturing fluid analysis in China. His research focuses on wax deposition in high-pressure and gas-dominated system.