Aojie Hong was defending the degree philosophiae doctor Thursday, December 14th. He is the first PhD student to graduate from the National IOR Centre of Norway.
When UiS was awarded The National IOR Centre of Norway in December 2013, it was required that the Centre should educate at least 13 PhDs in the first five years. Now the Centre has been in operation for four years, and already 20 PhD students have joined us. The first to defend his doctoral degree was Aojie Hong. December 14 he defended the thesis "Managing geological uncertainty with decision analysis in reservoir management".
Optimal oil production
Aojie Hong's research field is optimization of oil production. Despite his young age (29 years), he has already published several scientific articles. He has also contributed greatly to the cooperation between the academic communities at the University of Stavanger and the University of Texas, UT Austin. Hong's contribution to The National IOR Centre of Norway is also of great importance, especially for how our 12 industry partners will think optimization in the years to come.
Professor of Investment and Decision Analysis, Reidar Bratvold, is the main supervisor for Hong. He is impressed with what the student has done during his time at UiS.
"During my work with him, he has demonstrated professional skills, expertise and behaviour. I have learned a lot from our joint work and have tremendous respect for his abilities. Aojie has published several papers in international journals of high standings and this demonstrates his scientific potential. He is ambitious and hard-working and continue to add research results and publications even as his PhD work is in the finishing stages," Bratvold stated earlier this fall.
Study abroad
Aojie Hong spent five months at the University of Texas in Austin this spring/summer. Here he worked closely with Professor Larry Lake, one of the world's foremost researchers in his field (EOR and Decision Analysis).
According to Bratvold, Aojie Hong's good communication skills have contributed to a fruitful collaboration between Larry Lake and Bratvold, UT Austin and UiS.
Lake has also repeatedly expressed how impressed he is with Aojie's skills.
Text and photo: Kjersti Riiber