Villarroel Wins International SPE Fellowship
December 9, 2024
Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (UT PGE) graduate student Julio C. Villarroel Salvatierra (MSPE 2023, PhD PE 2026) has won the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) 2024 Henry DeWitt Smith Fellowship.
The fellowship is awarded annually to a student pursuing a graduate degree in petroleum engineering or a related field. This marks the second consecutive year a UT PGE student has won the international award.
Villarroel Salvatierra is currently a graduate research assistant in advanced reservoir engineering and formation evaluation with a focus on lithium. He is part of The University of Texas at Austin’s Joint Industry Research Consortium on Formation Evaluation where he investigates topics in lithium reservoir engineering. His current research links borehole measurements with in-situ lithium concentrations to further explore the re-injection of spent brine into reservoirs, aiming to understand geochemical and thermodynamic processes that prevent resource dilution. His work contributes to global energy sustainability by paving the way for efficient resource valuation and sustainable extraction methods of lithium in both oilfields and salt flats. His research is supervised by Professors Larry W. Lake and Carlos Torres-Verdín.
Prior to beginning his graduate work, Villarroel Salvatierra spent nine years as a reservoir engineer in Bolivia and in 2022 co-founded Xorn Mineral Insights, a start-up that serves South American companies interested in energy expansion by implementing modern computing and engineering techniques that focus on optimization for lithium extraction, geothermal resources and greenhouse gas emissions monitoring. In 2023, he won the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA) international paper contest in the master’s division. Most recently, he was interviewed by Bolivia’s Energy Press magazine about developing unconventional resources in the country. On the Forty Acres, he plays as a tighthead prop for the UT Men’s Rugby XV Club, which is part of USA Rugby and competes in the Red River Division.
The DeWitt Smith fellowship was established by SPE’s parent organization, the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME), to honor subsurface pioneer Henry DeWitt Smith’s “inspired leadership, professional success, personal integrity, and boundless dedication to the mining industry.” After graduating from Yale’s Sheffield Scientific School in 1910, he served as foreman, mine superintendent and general superintendent at mines across the U.S. and Mexico, eventually serving as Executive Vice President of Metals Reserve Company.
Dig Deeper
- Read more about UT PGE research at the forefront of the energy transition.
- Meet our world-renowned faculty members honored by SPE, EAGE, IAMG and more.
- Apply to our top-ranked undergraduate or graduate petroleum engineering programs.
Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (UT PGE) graduate student Julio C. Villarroel Salvatierra (MSPE 2023, PhD PE 2026) has won the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) 2024 Henry DeWitt Smith Fellowship.
The fellowship is awarded annually to a student pursuing a graduate degree in petroleum engineering or a related field. This marks the second consecutive year a UT PGE student has won the international award.
Villarroel Salvatierra is currently a graduate research assistant in advanced reservoir engineering and formation evaluation with a focus on lithium. He is part of The University of Texas at Austin’s Joint Industry Research Consortium on Formation Evaluation where he investigates topics in lithium reservoir engineering. His current research links borehole measurements with in-situ lithium concentrations to further explore the re-injection of spent brine into reservoirs, aiming to understand geochemical and thermodynamic processes that prevent resource dilution. His work contributes to global energy sustainability by paving the way for efficient resource valuation and sustainable extraction methods of lithium in both oilfields and salt flats. His research is supervised by Professors Larry W. Lake and Carlos Torres-Verdín.
Prior to beginning his graduate work, Villarroel Salvatierra spent nine years as a reservoir engineer in Bolivia and in 2022 co-founded Xorn Mineral Insights, a start-up that serves South American companies interested in energy expansion by implementing modern computing and engineering techniques that focus on optimization for lithium extraction, geothermal resources and greenhouse gas emissions monitoring. In 2023, he won the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA) international paper contest in the master’s division. Most recently, he was interviewed by Bolivia’s Energy Press magazine about developing unconventional resources in the country. On the Forty Acres, he plays as a tighthead prop for the UT Men’s Rugby XV Club, which is part of USA Rugby and competes in the Red River Division.
The DeWitt Smith fellowship was established by SPE’s parent organization, the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME), to honor subsurface pioneer Henry DeWitt Smith’s “inspired leadership, professional success, personal integrity, and boundless dedication to the mining industry.” After graduating from Yale’s Sheffield Scientific School in 1910, he served as foreman, mine superintendent and general superintendent at mines across the U.S. and Mexico, eventually serving as Executive Vice President of Metals Reserve Company.
Dig Deeper
- Read more about UT PGE research at the forefront of the energy transition.
- Meet our world-renowned faculty members honored by SPE, EAGE, IAMG and more.
- Apply to our top-ranked undergraduate or graduate petroleum engineering programs.
