Xiao Lizhi, Dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence, has been honored with Meritorious Technical Award from Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA), according to an announcement on the society’s official website. Prof. Xiao is CUP’s first faculty member to win that honor.

Xiao Lizhi systematically studied and developed NMR technology with his sophisticated research team collaborative with industry, including three-dimensional NMR logging devices, NMR logging while drilling, surface and downhole NMR fluids analyzer, NMR for drilling cuttings, and algorithm and models for NMR inversion, data process and interpretation software, many of them are successfully applied to wellsite and data centers. Recent emphasises are in wettability index estimation with NMR and deep learning applications to well logging, and micro-mechanisms for enhanced oil and gas recovery.

Prof. Xiao has served as Dean of the School of Geophysics and Information Engineering at China Petroleum University (Beijing), is currently Dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence, Editor-in-Chief ofPetroleum Science, Director of the International Joint Laboratory for Unconventional Oil and Gas of the Ministry of Education, and Director of Harvard SEAS-CUPB Joint Laboratory on Petroleum Science. He is the Executive Director of the China Geophysical Society, Director of the NMR Committee of the China Physical Society, Advisor of SPWLA CUPB Chapter, President of EAGE China Chapter, advisory member of SEG China, and members of SPWLA, SEG, EAGE, SPE, APS, AAAS, etc. He holds visiting positions at the Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science and several other institutions.

Dr. Xiao has 10 technical books and more than 180 peer reviewed papers published; 68 invention patents granted. He is the pioneer of borehole NMR in China, and co-authored the NMR logging principles and applications book with George Coates and Manfred Prammer at Halliburton, and now making new contributions to artificial intelligence for well logging and the oil industry. He has technical innovations been awarded by China National Petroleum Cooperation, Ministry of Education, and other national and international organizations.

The Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA) is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to the advancement of the science of petrophysics and formation evaluation, through well logging and other formation evaluation techniques and to the application of these techniques to the exploitation of gas, oil and other minerals. Founded in 1959, SPWLA provides information services to scientists in the petroleum and mineral industries, serves as a voice of shared interests in our profession, plays a major role in strengthening petrophysical education, and strives to increase the awareness of the role petrophysics has in the Oil and Gas Industry and the scientific community.