Company provides student with real-world research opportunity

It might not be a match made in heaven, but this match made on the oilfield may yield just as many benefits.

Sim Tech, LLC, headquartered in Houston, TX, strives to improve the understanding of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs by constructing accurate fractured models, creating fast, efficient systems that add value to the industry.

Professor Ilham El-Monier, an assistant professor of practice to has headed up Ohio State's efforts to revamp its petroleum engineering program, conducts research in fracturing and image analysis of hydraulic fractures and micro-cracks in sandstone, carbonate, and shale rocks, as well as fluid mechanics and petrophysics in conventional and unconventional reservoirs.

Combined, Sim Tech's need for R&D data and analysis and Dr. El-Monier's expertise create an ideal opportunity to provide a student with research experience while contributing to the cost of the student's education. 

Yiwen (Sophia) Gong, a doctoral student, is working with the company's data to analyze and solve problems and apply them in the field for the purpose of fracking horizontal wells. In return, Sim Tech is providing a stipend and will cover any expenses related to that project for one year. 

Yiwen is currently serving as the president of the Ohio State chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Dr. El-Monier was a SERC Faculty Fellow in 2016 and held the Schulmberger Foundation's Faculty for the Future Fellowship from 2007-11.