Gupta Awarded Research Fellowship by NASEM

BATON ROUGE, LA – LSU Assistant Professor of Petroleum Engineering Ipsita Gupta was one of 20 faculty across the country to receive the 2018 Early-Career Research Fellowship from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine on Wednesday, Aug. 29.

The fellowship recognizes professionals at the critical pre-tenure phase of their careers who show exceptional leadership, performance, and potential for future contributions to improving offshore energy system safety, human health and well-being, or environmental stewardship. Each fellow receives an award of $76,000 paid to his or her institution in the form a two-year grant for research expenses and professional development.

Gupta, who has been part of the Craft and Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering since 2016, has focused her current research on “safer energy offshore systems.”

“Whether from leaky wellbores, pipeline leaks, or more catastrophic events like well blowouts, oil and gas leaks leave environmental impacts,” Gupta said. “With this fellowship, I plan to study the residence times of these hydrocarbons in the ocean bottom—an environment important to the benthic community. This award gives me an opportunity to generate a research portfolio that gives back to Louisiana and the Gulf Coast community.

The competitive award is among a suite of program activities aimed at supporting the development of future generations of scientists, engineers, and health professionals who are prepared to work at the intersections of offshore energy system safety, human health and well-being, and environmental stewardship in the Gulf of Mexico and other U.S. coastal regions.

In addition to Gupta, NASEM has awarded three other LSU faculty Early-Career Research Fellowships over the past two years: J. Cameron Thrash in 2017 and Michelle Meyers and Jill Trepanier in 2016.

Contact: Joshua Duplechain

Director of Communications

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