Prof. Dr. Mehdi Ostadhassan currently holds the esteemed Alexander von Humboldt George Forster experienced research fellowship at the University of Kiel in Germany. Originating from Iran, he obtained his BS degree in Petroleum Engineering from Petroleum University of Technology (Iran), and his MS in Petroleum Geophysics from IFP School in France. His PhD in Petroleum Engineering was earned from the University of North Dakota in the USA, where his research integrated elastic anisotropy into the geomechanical response of the Bakken Shale Play. After serving as a research scientist at the Energy and Environmental Research Center, he joined the petroleum engineering department at UND as an assistant professor. In 2019, he was promoted to associate professor before assuming the role of a distinguished professor at Northeast Petroleum University, also becoming affiliated with the Unconventional Oil and Gas Institute, China. Dr. Ostadhassan's accomplishments include publishing two books and over 150 peer-reviewed papers in leading journals within his research field. He has presented as a keynote speaker at numerous global conferences and secured over $3M in research funding from governmental bodies and the private sector. His extensive collaborations with universities worldwide and private companies encompass a wide array of topics, including geochemistry, geomechanics, petrophysics, rock physics, and materials characterization. With a primary research focus on unconventional shale plays, he boasts significant expertise in major shale plays across North America and China.
Dr. Bodhisatwa Hazra is currently working as a Senior Scientist at the CSIR- Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad, India. His main areas of research interests are Petroleum Geochemistry, Petrophysics, CO2 geological storage, and Organic Petrology. He has expertise in handling Rock-Eval, optical microscope, FE-SEM, high-pressure and low-pressure gas adsorption equipment, TGA-DTA, and X-ray CT. Dr. Hazra received his doctoral degree from the prestigious Department of Applied Geology, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, for his research works on shale-gas assessment of Raniganj basin, India. He received the prestigious DST Inspire Faculty award- 2015, CSIR Young Scientist Award 2019, and very recently bagged the prestigious SERB International Research Experience (SIRE)- 2023 fellowship. Currently, Dr Hazra is serving as Associate Editor at the Journal of Geological Society of India, and Arabian Journal of Geosciences.
