With the help of significant industry partners and the support of faculty members, students in the Petroleum Engineering Department are getting unique opportunities to apply their classroom knowledge to real world situations via the Externship Program.
Externships are a partnership between Cullen and real-world companies, who also provide funding for the program. They provide another pathway for students to acquire feedback and experience, and to make networking connections. Lecturer Zeinab Zargar, Ph.D., serves as the coordinator and a mentor for the program.
“This is a summer initiative designed to provide students with industry-driven project experience,” she said. “Participating companies provide real datasets, technical challenges, and one or more mentors, who work alongside UH faculty to guide students on a weekly basis.”
Externships are open to undergraduate and graduate students, and they offer a unique opportunity to collaborate with industry professionals, solve real-world problems and build meaningful industry connections. Examples of past focus areas include operations optimization, unconventional resource development, improved oil recovery (IOR), field development strategies, and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).
Zargar said that at the end of the summer, student teams present their findings and proposed solutions to technical and management teams from the sponsoring companies. Summer 2025 featured two externship teams.
Project 1, “CO₂ Core Flooding Simulation,” was with Occidental Petroleum, a long-time sponsor of the program, Zargar said. The students participating were Cecilia Mugure Gachanja, Adarsh Abraham Cherian and Luz Stella Vargas Padilla.
“This project evaluated CO₂ sequestration potential in high-permeability saline aquifers using core data from stratigraphic wells at a planned injection hub,” Zargar said. “Two composite cores were tested under reservoir conditions per EPA guidelines. The team built and calibrated 1D core flood simulation models, conditioned them with lab results, and adjusted rock and flow properties to provide reliable parameters for full-field CO₂ storage simulations.”
The second project, “Field Development Planning in a Tight Reservoir — Louisiana,” was sponsored by New Dawn Energy. The team members were Franklyn Angel, Syed Hassan Ahmed, Talha Hassan Khan and Evan Bass.
“The team developed a 3D reservoir simulation model by incorporating available well log, core, fluid properties, rock-fluid interaction, production history and completion data to support development planning in the Lower Taylor Sand of Field X, Louisiana — a tight calcareous sandstone formation,” Zargar said. “The project involved history-matching a reference horizontal well and forecasting production from proposed wells spaced 1,200 feet apart. The model helped optimize well placement and predict recovery factors of about 8 percent for oil and 78 percent for gas.”
Zargar said that it took help from many different sources inside and outside of UH for the externship program to thrive.
“I deeply appreciate the continued support from our industry partners, especially Occidental Petroleum,” she said. “I’d also like to thank the UHPE faculty for their invaluable contributions in mentoring and supporting our students, including Dr. Farouq Ali, Dr. Mohamed Soliman, Dr. Michael T. Myers, Dr. George K. Wong, Dr. Christine Economides and Dr. Ganesh Thakur. Above all, I’d like to extend a special thanks to Mr. Ed Behm, a member of our UHPE Board of Advisors and Chair of Employment Committee, for his unwavering support and guidance in shaping and advancing this program.”
For more about the externship program, click here to read a Q&A with Mohamed Sarhan, a Cullen Ph.D. graduate and externship participant.