Dr. Sayed M. Shakil Hussain
Research Scientist II, CIPR
Since 2012, Dr. Syed has been a Research Scientist III at Center for Integrative Petroleum Research (CPIR). Between 2009 – 2010, he was a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Victor Snieckus group, Chemistry Department, Queen’s University. He has also been involved in several national-funded and client-funded research projects. He has an established track record of publishing high-quality articles in prestigious journals. His areas of interest include the synthesis and purification of surfactants, polymers, chelating agents and their use in various oilfield applications such as drilling mud, stimulation and enhanced oil recovery. Dr. Syed is also proficient in the use of air-sensitive and pyrophoric reagents.
Educational Qualification
- Postdoc, Homogeneous & Heterogeneous Catalysis, KFUPM, 2010-2012
- Postdoc, Homogeneous Catalysis, Queen’s University, Canada, 2009-2010
- Ph.D., Synthetic Organic Chemistry in sandwich program between Queen’s University, Canada and University of Karachi, 2009.
- MS, Organic Chemistry, University of Karachi, 2002.
Research Interests
- Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery
- Lost Circulation Material
- Acid diversion
- Well Stimulation
Selected Publications
- S. M. Shakil Hussain, M. S. Kamal, M. Murtaza, “Synthesis of novel ethoxylated quaternary ammonium gemini surfactants for enhanced oil recovery application”, Energies, Vol. 12 (2019), pp. 1731.
- S. M. Shakil Hussain, M. S. Kamal, L. T. Fogang, Shirish Patil, “Effect of the number of ethylene oxide units on the properties of synthesized tailor-made cationic gemini surfactants for oilfield applications”, Journal of Molecular Structure, Vol. 1196 (2019), pp. 851.
- S. M. Shakil Hussain, M. S. Kamal, M. Murtaza, “Effect of Aromatic Spacer Groups and Counterions on Aqueous Micellar and Thermal Properties of the Synthesized Quaternary Ammonium Gemini Surfactants”, Journal of Molecular Liquids, Vol. 296, (2019), pp. 111837.
- S. M. Shakil Hussain, M. S. Kamal, Theis Solling, M. Murtaza, L. T. Fogang, “Surface and thermal properties of synthesized cationic poly(ethylene oxide) gemini surfactants: the role of the spacer”, RSC Advances, Vol. 9, (2019), pp. 30154.
- S. M. Shakil Hussain, M. S. Kamal, L. T. Fogang, “Synthesis and physicochemical investigation of betaine type polyoxyethylene zwitterionic surfactants containing different ionic headgroups”, Journal of Molecular Structure, Vol. 1178 (2019), pp. 83.
Awards & Honors
- Higher Education Commission of Pakistan International Scholarship Award.
- GRE (Subjective, Chemistry by ETS, USA) 61 percentile.
- Junior Research Fellowship Award from H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, University of Karachi.
Dr. Abduljamiu Olalekan Amao
Research Scientist II, CIPR
Dr. Amao is a Research Scientist working on modern benthic foraminifera in the Arabian Gulf, with focus on sampling whole communities along environmental gradients to understand ecological structures and environmental change. He has other interests in applied mineralogy and big data statistics
Educational Qualification
- Ph.D., Geology (King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia).
- M.S., Environmental Sciences (King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia).
- B.S., Biology (Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria).
Research Interests
- Micropaleontology and Biostratigraphy
- Statistics and Applied Mineralogy
- Applied Marine Geology
Selected Publications
- Amao, A. O., Qurban, M. A., Kaminski, M. A., Joydas, T. V., Manikandan, P. K., & Frontalini, F. (2020). Dataset showing the abundance and distribution of benthic foraminifera in relation to marine sediment parameters from western Arabian Gulf. Data in brief, 28, 105014.
- Amao, A. O., Qurban, M. A., Kaminski, M. A., Joydas, T. V., Manikandan, P. K., & Frontalini, F. (2019). A baseline investigation of benthic foraminifera in relation to marine sediments parameters in western parts of the Arabian Gulf. Marine pollution bulletin, 146, 751-766.
- Wilson, B, P Farfan, L Hayek, M Kaminski, Amao O, and C Hughes (2019). Agglutinated and planktonic foraminifera of the Nariva Formation, Central Trinidad, as indicators of its age and paleoenvironment. Micropaleontology.
- Amao, A. O., Kaminski, M. A., Rostami, M. A., Gharaie, M. H. M., Lak, R., & Frontalini, F. (2018). Distribution of benthic foraminifera along the Iranian coast. Marine Biodiversity, 1-14.
- Amao, A. O., Kaminski, M. A., & Babalola, L. (2018). Benthic Foraminifera in Hypersaline Salwa Bay (saudi Arabia): An Insight into Future Climate Change in the Gulf Region? Journal of Foraminiferal Research, 48(1), 29-40.
Dr. Manzar Fawad
Research Scientist II, CIPR
Dr. Manzar Fawad received his M.Sc. in Applied Geology from the University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan, an M.Sc. in Petroleum Geosciences from the Norwegian University of Science & Technology [NTNU], and a Ph.D. in Experimental Rock Physics from the University of Oslo, Norway. He is a multidisciplinary geoscientist with more than 25 years of petroleum geoscience, research, and consulting experience. As a Researcher with the University of Oslo, he recently completed a project, “OASIS,” related to a CO2 storage site “Smeaheia” in the northern North Sea (with grants from the Research Council of Norway).
Educational Qualification
- Ph.D. from University of Oslo, Norway
- M.S. Petroleum Geosciences from NTNU, Norway
- M.S. Applied Geology from University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan
Research Interests
- Rock Physics/ Petrophysics
- Quantitative Seismic
- Reservoir and Seal Characterization
- CO2 sequestration
Selected Publications
- Fawad, M. and Mondol, N.H. 2022. Monitoring geological storage of CO2 using a new rock physics model. Scientific Reports, 12, 1–11.
- Fawad, M., Rahman, M.J. and Mondol, N.H. 2021. Seismic reservoir characterization of potential CO2 storage reservoir sandstones in Smeaheia area, Northern North Sea. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 108812.
- Fawad, M. and Mondol, N.H. 2021. Monitoring geological storage of CO2: a new approach. Scientific Reports, 11, 1–9.
- Fawad, M., Hansen, J.A. and Mondol, N.H. 2020. Seismic-fluid detection-a review. Earth-Science Reviews, 103347.
- Fawad, M., Mondol, N.H., Baig, I. and Jahren, J. 2020. Diagenetic-related flat spots within the Paleogene Sotbakken Group in the vicinity of the Senja Ridge, Barents Sea. Petroleum Geoscience, 26, 373–385.
Awards & Honors
- Gold Medal in MSc Applied Geology from the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan.
Dr. Safwat Abdel-Azeim
Research Scientist II, CIPR
Dr. Safwat Abdel-Azeim received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees from Paris XI University in Molecular Physical Chemistry, 2008 and 2004, respectively. Before joining KFUPM, in February 2017, he was a research associate at KAUST, Solar and Photovoltaic Engineering Research Center (SPERC). His main expertise is Molecular dynamics simulations, Density Functional Theory (DFT), and, the hybrid method between quantum mechanics and molecular mechanics (QM/MM). He has abroad research experience including bio-molecules modeling, surface chemistry, NMR simulation, reaction kinetics, and, polymer modeling. At CIPR, he is interested in EOR (chemical) related research mainly colloid stability and wettability alteration.
Educational Qualification
- Ph.D., Physical Chemistry, University of Paris-Sud XI, France, 2008. MSc. Physical Chemistry, University of Paris-Sud XI France, 2004.
- DES Non-organic Chemistry, Cairo University, Egypt, 2000.
- BS, Chemistry, Cairo University, Egypt, 1997.
Research Interests
- Enhanced Oil Recovery (chemical) & Rational design of new potent surfactants & Nano-particles applications in EOR
- Modelling of organic photovoltaic and COF polymers using Molecular Dynamics Simulations and DFT.
- Modelling of chemical reactions in the complex systems (Bio-catalysis).
- Modelling of molecular interactions (protein-ligand, RNA/DNA-ligand and Protein-DNA interactions).
Selected Publications
- Mohamed M. EL-Deeb, Hamed M. Alshammari and Safwat Abdel-Azeim, Effect of Ortho-Substituted Aniline on the Corrosion Protection of Aluminum in 2M H2SO4 Solution, Canadian Journal of Chemistry, Feb, 13 (2017).
- S. Matthew Menke, Aditya Sadhanala, Mark Nikolka, Niva A. Ran, Mahesh Kumar Ravva, Safwat Abdel-Azeim, Hannah, L. Stern, Ming Wang, Henning Sirringhaus, Thuc-Quyen Nguyen, Jean-Luc Brédas, Guillermo C. Bazan, and Richard H. Friend. Limits for Recombination in a Low Energy Loss Organic Heterojunction, ACS Nano, (2016), 10 (12), 10736–10744.
- Safwat Abdel-Azeim, Abdesslem Jedidi, Jorg Eppinger and Luigi Cavallo, Mechanistic Insights on the Reductive Dehydroxylation Pathway for the Biosynthesis of Isoprenoids Promoted by the IspH Enzyme, Chemical Science, (2015),6, 5643-5651.
- Safwat Abdel-Azeim, Romina Oliva, Edrisse Chermak, Raimondo De Cristofaro and, Luigi Cavallo, Molecular Dynamics characterization of five pathogenic factor X mutants associated with decreased catalytic activity. Biochemistry, (2014), 53 (44), 6992.
- Safwat Abdel-Azeim, Edrisse Chermak, Anna Vangone, Romina Oliva, and Luigi Cavallo, MDcons: Intermolecular contact maps as a tool to analyze the interface of protein complexes from molecular dynamics trajectories, BMC Bioinformatics, (2014), 15 (Suppl 5):S1
- Safwat Abdel-Azeim, X. Li, L. W. Chung and K. Morokuma, Zinc-Homocysteine Binding in Cobalamin-Dependent Methionine Synthase and its Role in the Substrate Activation: DFT, ONIOM and QM/MM Molecular Dynamics Studies, Journal of Computational Chemistry, (2011), 30;32(15):3154.
- Safwat Abdel-Azeim, “Protein ligand binding interactions – ONIOM and molecular mechanics studies” VDM Verlag Dr. Müller (21 July 2010).
Awards & Honors
- CREST Post Doc fellowship, Kyoto University, Japan, 2008/09.
- SIDACTION Post Doc fellowship, ENS-Cachan, France, 2009/11.
- KAUST Post Doc fellowship, 2012/14.
- CECAM-HQ-EPFL fellow to attend tutorial on Hybrid Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics (QM/MM) Approaches to Biochemistry and Beyond, 2013.