Maria-Aikaterini Nikolinakou

Maria-Aikaterini Nikolinakou is a Research Professor at the Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin. Her expertise spans geotechnical engineering, constitutive modeling, and numerical simulation. She focuses on stress-pore pressure interactions in complex geological systems like salt structures and accretionary prisms.

Education:

• PhD in Theoretical Soil Mechanics (MIT, 2008)
• M.Sc. in Geotechnical Engineering (MIT)
• Civil Engineering Degree (NTUA, Greece)

Research Interests: She develops applied workflows for pressure prediction in exploration, studies borehole stability, and models transient pore pressure dynamics. Current projects include the UT GeoFluids Consortium, AGL Consortium, and investigations into megathrust fault mechanics in subduction zones.

Professional Background: Prior to UT Austin, she worked at Shell Exploration & Production on reservoir geomechanics. She employs numerical tools like Abaqus and ELFEN for basin-scale simulations.

Labs/Teams: Affiliated with the Bureau of Economic Geology, leading research in salt tectonics and coupled geomechanical systems.