SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

Congratulations to these well-deserving PSIG Scholarship recipients.

The 2024 Orin Flanigan Scholarship was awarded to Criston Hyett for his research in PDE-constrained optimal control of transient flows under uncertain boundary conditions within pipeline networks. Combining efficient numerical methods and symbolic programming, the work demonstrated state-of-the-art, physics-adherent simulation and optimization. The scholarship supports Criston’s further work as a PhD candidate at the University of Arizona to deploy trustable, physics-informed machine learning to address modern challenges in pipeline network operations.

The 2023 Don Schroeder Scholarship was awarded to Kyle Porter for his research in the field of two-phase, flow-induced vibration in pipelines. Mr. Porter’s work includes utilizing unique computer vision techniques for experimental data acquisition and developing models to simulate pipeline fluid flow, motion, and fatigue life during slug flow. Mr. Porter is a M.S. student at the University of Tulsa and conducts his research as a part of the Tulsa University Fluid Flow Projects research consortium.

The 2022 Orin Flanigan Scholarship was awarded to Elias Tasca, a PhD candidate at the State University of Campinas for his research on transient flows in pressurized pipeline systems with entrapped air. Mr. Tasca’s research includes the development of strategies for air valve characterization and the assessment of the sensitive transient behavior of systems employing air valves to both air valve characteristics and system configuration.

The 2019 Don Schroeder Scholarship was awarded to Caitlyn Thiberville, a PhD candidate student at Louisiana State University for her research on leak detection. Caitlyn’s research involves using data from pipeline pigs to detect leaks. Caitlyn plans to use the scholarship to obtain additional experimental data to advance her leak detection research.

The 2018 Orin Flanigan Scholarship was awarded to Jordan Jalving, a PhD candidate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for his research into natural gas network optimization. Mr. Jalving is researching the use of large scale optimization to perform state finding and co-optimization of gas networks and electric power grids. As a result of his research, Mr. Jalving developed Plasmo.jl, an open source software package for modeling and optimizing gas networks.

The 2017 Don Schroeder Scholarship was awarded to David Roullier for his research into multiphase slug flow within large diameter pipes. Mr. Roullier’s research uses statistical techniques to propose better correlations improving liquid hold up and pressure drop calculations. Mr. Roullier is a Ph.D. student at the University of Tulsa Fluid Flow Project.

The 2016 Orin Flanigan Scholarship was awarded to Peyman Zahedi for his research into predicting erosion within pipelines.  Mr. Zahedi’s research includes using CFD calculations to model annular flow with entrained sand particles.  These calculations are then used to predict the rate of pipe-wall erosion.  Mr. Zahedi is a Ph.D. student in the Mechanical Engineering department of the University of Tulsa.

The 2015 PSIG Scholarships were awarded to Francesco Galleni and Sara Baltazar. Mr Galleni, a PhD student at Imperial College London, was awarded the 2015 Orin Flanigan Scholarship for his research into modelling one-dimensional vertical multiphase flow. Ms. Baltazar, a PhD student at UTAD, was awarded the Don Schroeder Scholarship for her research into modelling gas pipelines using an analogy between gas pipelines and electrical circuits.