Story originally appeared on U of T News
Toronto, ON – University of Toronto Professor Giovanni Grasselli, of the Department of Civil Engineering, has been named the inaugural holder of the Foundation CMG Industrial Research Chair in Fundamental Petroleum Rock Physics and Rock Mechanics.
Professor Grasselli is joining 12 chairs at 12 universities, including Penn State and the University of Texas in Austin, in 6 countries that are funded by the Canadian non-profit organization to investigate leading edge research and innovation in oil and gas reservoir modelling.
In addition to funding Grasselli’s chair, Foundation CMG’s $1.35-million contribution will be used as seed funding toward the development of a new centre of excellence at U of T over the next five years.
By combining fundamental principles of rock physics and rock mechanics with seismic imaging, the centre will produce research and develop technology for smarter, unconventional petroleum production, while reducing the environmental impacts and contributing towards safer field operations.
Foundation CMG’s support will catalyze research collaboration between existing experts at the University of Toronto, creating the necessary critical mass to successfully tackle the development of a sound physical-based and fully verified geomechanical modelling approach to simulate hydraulic fracturing in shale and tight oil and gas reservoirs.
About Foundation CMG
Foundation CMG’s mission is to promote and fund university research in oil and gas reservoir simulation with industry collaboration and technology transfer. Computer Modelling Group formed in 1978 in the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department at University of Calgary with the objective to carry out research in computer simulation and to develop leading edge reservoir simulation software for the petroleum industry.
In 1997 the company was divided into a newly created publicly traded company, CMGL, and a not-for-profit organization, Foundation CMG.
Foundation CMG promotes and financially supports research and development and students through research grants at universities with leading research programs focused on reservoir simulation. Foundation CMG’s vision is to be the catalyst for investment of $700 million toward the training of 5,000 graduate students working on reservoir simulation research topics over a period of 25 years.
Foundation CMG partners with government, industry and universities to drive unique multi-year renewable support of student education and world-leading researchers at universities, in Europe, Asia, South America and North America.
[May 2018 update: the name of the Industrial research chair has been updated to reflect the new name of the industrial partner - the NSERC-Energi Simulation Chair in Fundamental Rock Physics and Rock Mechanics]