Louis Durlofsky

Louis Durlofsky is the Otto N. Miller Professor of Energy Science & Engineering at Stanford University's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. He specializes in subsurface flow modeling, reservoir simulation, and carbon sequestration. His research bridges computational methods with practical applications in energy systems and environmental science.

Education: PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT (1986), with earlier degrees from MIT and Penn State. He has held academic and industry roles, including Chevron (1987–1999) and Stanford since 1998, where he chaired the Energy Resources Engineering department (2006–2012).

Research Interests: Focus on advanced reservoir engineering, data assimilation, machine learning for subsurface modeling, and closed-loop reservoir management. His work integrates deep learning surrogates, reduced-order models, and geological parameterization to address challenges in CO2 storage and energy systems optimization.

Awards: Member of the National Academy of Engineering, SPE Distinguished Member, and multiple best-paper awards in geosciences and reservoir engineering. He leads the Stanford Smart Fields Consortium and Reservoir Simulation Research programs.

Teaching: Courses on subsurface flow simulation, reservoir engineering, and energy-environment interactions. Advises over 20 PhD/Master’s students and postdocs, contributing to next-generation energy research.

Labs & Collaborations: Directs industrial affiliates programs and collaborates globally on initiatives like the Stanford Center for Carbon Storage. Active in editorial roles for Computational Geosciences and Mathematical Geosciences.