Dandina N. Rao
Professor
Louisiana State University
USA
Biography
Dandina N. Rao is Emmett-Wells-Distinguished-Professor in the Craft and Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA. He has been involved in enhanced oil recovery research and field project implementations for over 3 decades. In addition to developing the Gas-Assisted Gravity Drainage (GAGD) Process for enhanced oil recovery, Dr. Rao has invented the HydroFlame process for steam and flue gas generation for heavy oil and bitumen recovery, the dual-drop dual-crystal technique for confident reservoir wettability characterization, and the vanishing interface technique (VIT) for quick and cost-effective gas-oil miscibility determination. He considers the implementation of some of these ideas by producing companies in the oil fields as the most gratifying accomplishment, next only to the successful professional careers of many of his graduate students. Dr. Rao holds a B.Tech with Distinction from India, a M.Sc. from the University of Saskatchewan (Canada) and a Ph.D. from the University of Calgary (Canada). Dr. Rao was recently recognized by the Louisiana State University with the Rainmaker Award given to faculty who are nationally and internationally recognized for innovative research and creative scholarship.
Research Interest
Petroleum Engineering