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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: A Personal Engineering Perspective

Welcome Week

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Location: Current students will receive access details via Canvas
Speaker:
Carlos Torres-Verdín
The University of Texas at Austin

 

I have been associated with UT Austin’s Cockrell School of Engineering since 1983 as a Master’s student and several years later as a member of the Faculty.   As a classified Hispanic minority faculty, my view of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the College has changed over the years based on my own personal experiences, my interaction with minority colleagues, and as a consequence of my rewarding role as educator and supervisor of minority students. My industry experience has also shaped my views and expectations about the influence of ethnic diversity in the work place. Racial biases are often hard to detect, understand, and recognize. And what I have confirmed in multiple ways is that diversity is an incredible and transformative asset that is often under-appreciated. The power of diversity is what fuels the engines of successful change and adaptation in nature. All successful organic systems are diverse, flexible, and adaptable. As engineers and educators, we have the important role of securing diversity of being, thinking, and doing for all: the ethos of diversity! Not only because nature has shown us that this is the most efficient path to stable equilibrium but also because it is the most potentially rewarding and successful way to grow. In my opinion, we all have the responsibility to foster and enact diversity, equity, and inclusion through action and example. I will talk about several specific ways to achieve true DEI in the short term within our own academic institution.

Carlos Torres-Verdín received a B.Sc. degree in Engineering Geophysics from the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico, a M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. degree in Engineering Geoscience from the University of California at Berkeley in 1991. During 1991-1997, he held the position of Research Scientist with Schlumberger-Doll Research. From 1997-1999, he was Reservoir Specialist and Technology Champion with YPF (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Since 1999, he has been affiliated with the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering of the University of Texas at Austin, where he is currently Full Professor, holds the Brian James Jennings Memorial Endowed Chair in Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, and conducts research on borehole geophysics, formation evaluation, petrophysics, well logging, and integrated reservoir description. Dr. Torres-Verdín is the founder and director of the Research Consortium on Formation Evaluation at the University of Texas at Austin, which has been in operation for 21 years and is currently sponsored by 20 companies. He has published over 220 refereed journal papers and over 230 conference papers, is co-inventor of 6 patents, and co-author of one book. Dr. Torres-Verdín is recipient of numerous professional awards in his field of expertise and has been distinguished with important teaching and writing awards. He has supervised 34 PhD and 46 Master’s students, conducted numerous industry training courses, and co-chaired several technical workshops and conference sessions. Dr. Torres-Verdín has completed 21 officially certified marathons (including Boston 2007) and 16 officially certified half marathons (approx. 500 unofficial half marathons), and is an avid bicyclist and a consummate fanatic of the outdoors.