Program Overview

Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering

Overview

The Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering program at The University of Texas at Austin is designed to educate engineers to develop technology and solve problems related to earth energy resources. The program offers a doctoral degree based on a combination of coursework and research, and a master’s degree based on either a thesis or a report, or on coursework alone.

Objectives

The program's objectives include:

• Educating engineers to develop technology and solve problems related to earth energy resources
• Focusing on oil and gas, as well as sustainability topics
• Offering a doctoral degree based on a combination of coursework and research
• Offering a master’s degree based on either a thesis or a report, or on coursework alone

Facilities for Graduate Work

Excellent facilities for graduate research in petroleum and geosystems engineering are available in multiple engineering buildings, including:

• The Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Building
• The Gary L. Thomas Energy Engineering Building
• The J. J. Pickle Research Campus
• A machine shop is maintained to fabricate and support research equipment.
• Students have access to a host of computers, including PCs, workstations, and parallel computing clusters.
• World-class supercomputing facilities are available at the Texas Advanced Computing Center.
• Excellent library facilities include the Mallet Chemistry Library, the Walter Geology Library, and the Kuehne Physics Mathematics Astronomy Library.

Graduate Studies Committee

The following faculty members served on the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) in the spring 2025 semester:

• Matthew Thomas Balhoff
• Hugh C Daigle
• Mojdeh Delshad
• David DiCarlo
• David N Espinoza
• John Timothy Foster
• Kenneth E Gray
• Zoya Heidari
• Larry W Lake
• Yingda Lu
• Kishore Mohanty
• Quoc Phuc Nguyen
• Ryosuke Okuno
• Jon E Olson
• Masa Prodanovic
• Michael Pyrcz
• Arvind P Ravikumar
• Kamy Sepehrnoori
• Mukul M Sharma
• Wen Song
• Carlos Torres-Verdin
• Eric van Oort
• Mary F Wheeler

Admission Requirements

All prospective degree candidates must have a background satisfactory for study of advanced petroleum and geosystems engineering as determined by the Graduate Studies Committee. For students without this background, the Graduate Studies Committee will recommend a program of coursework designed to prepare the student for graduate study. Complete requirements for admission are available online.

Degree Requirements

The program offers a doctoral degree based on a combination of coursework and research, and a master’s degree based on either a thesis or a report, or on coursework alone.

Stackable Certificate Programs

The program offers stackable certificate programs, which allow students to earn certificates in specific areas of study while pursuing their degree.