Muhammad Sahimi Selected for InterPore’s 2015 Honorary Membership Award

The International Society for Porous Media (InterPore) awarded Muhammad Sahimi their Honorary Membership Award for 2015. According to InterPore, the award is given to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the field of porous media science and technology, are world renowned in the field, and have made contributions consistent with the aims and ideals of InterPore, and Dr. Sahimi was chosen for the award based on his “groundbreaking contributions to scientific knowledge on porous media.” The award, which is the highest one the society gives, included a certificate, lifetime InterPore membership, and travel grant of €1,000 to participate in the InterPore Annual Meeting and Conference. The award ceremony took place at the 7th International Conference on Porous Media and Annual Meeting, which was held on May 18th through the 21st in Padova, Italy.

Dr. Sahimi, who is a professor of chemical engineering and materials science and the NIOC Chair in petroleum engineering at the University of Southern California, is a member of the Multiphysics Flow and Transport Theme within the Center for Geologic Storage of CO₂. His research within the Center includes molecular dynamics modeling of carbon dioxide (CO₂) adsorption on selected minerals as part an effort to develop numerical models that can better understand and predict CO₂ behavior at the molecular scale. This work will be combined with other Multiphysics Theme work at the pore and core scales to better predict the location and distribution of injected CO₂ within a storage reservoir.

More information about the award can be found on the Prizes and Awards 2015 page of the InterPore website.

Contact: Muhammad Sahimi, [email protected]

Jim Best Named American Geophysical Union 2015 Fellow

Jim Best was named a 2015 Fellow by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). According to the AGU, its Fellows program, which was established in 1962, recognizes “AGU members who have made exceptional scientific contributions and attained acknowledged eminence in the fields of Earth and space sciences.” He was nominated by the AGU Earth and Planetary Surface Processes section. Best, the Jack and Richard Threet Chair in Sedimentary Geology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a member of the Center for Geologic Storage of CO₂’s (GSCO2’s) Geology: Characterization and Geocellular Modeling theme. As a geologist in the GSCO2, Best focuses on the sedimentology of clastic reservoirs. His efforts characterize the sedimentological architecture and heterogeneity of the Mt. Simon Sandstone and other analogous formations, at a range of scales from pore to basin, in order to develop more accurate geologic models across scales. As part of his study of natural analogues, Best collaborates with the geocellular modeling group and Multiphysics Flow and Transport theme. He also advises two postdoctoral fellows and two PhD students within the Geology theme. Best has contributed to the areas of process sedimentology and geomorphology by studying modern and ancient sedimentary environments and investigating the coupling between fluid flow, sediment transport, and morphological development using laboratory, experimental, numerical, and field-based approaches. His work ranges across scales, including the study of turbulence modulation in fluid flows; the morphodynamics of bedform development; the dynamics and deposits of some of the World’s largest rivers (including the Jamuna, Parana, Mekong, Amazon, Mississippi, and Columbia Rivers), with an emphasis on multichannel braided rivers; sediment-laden density flows in the laboratory; contemporary glacial lakes and ancient deep-sea deposits; basin analysis of Carboniferous clastic sediments; and deltaic processes, form, and deposits. The 2015 Fellows will be honored at a ceremony held during the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco this December.

Contact: Jim Best, [email protected]