Hailun Ni

Hailun Ni is a Research Assistant Professor at the Bureau of Economic Geology within the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin. She leads the Sandtank Lab, focusing on geologic carbon storage research, particularly investigating how subsurface heterogeneity impacts CO2 migration and trapping mechanisms. Her work bridges laboratory experiments with field-scale simulations to enhance understanding of subsurface fluid dynamics.

Education:

• PhD in Energy Resources Engineering, Stanford University
• Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Gulf Coast Carbon Center

Research Interests:

• CO2 plume migration dynamics in heterogeneous reservoirs
• Laboratory-scale sand tank modeling for field experiment validation
• Capillary trapping mechanisms and multiphase flow in porous media
• Development of composite confining systems for CO2 sequestration

Publications focus on experimental validation of CO2 storage processes, with recent work addressing small-scale heterogeneity effects, buoyancy-driven flows, and machine learning applications in subsurface monitoring. Her research emphasizes translating lab-scale findings to real-world storage feasibility assessments.

Advising and Grants: While no students are listed, her role managing the Sandtank Lab indicates active involvement in collaborative research projects. Her work directly supports technical advancements for large-scale CO2 storage deployment.

Labs & Teams: Principal investigator and lab manager of the Sandtank Lab, part of the Gulf Coast Carbon Center, which specializes in geologic storage solutions for carbon capture and sequestration.