The R.S. Schechter Research Award is awarded annually to someone making a substantial contribution to the science and technology of energy production.
The Center for Subsurface Energy and the Environment (CSEE) established this award to honor the late Bob Schechter for his lifetime commitment to higher education and research. Bob Schechter was the intellectual soul of both the petroleum and chemical engineering departments at The University of Texas at Austin. He was one of the great professors of our lifetime. Bob was a professor at UT for more than 30 years. During this time he was the chairman of both the chemical and petroleum engineering departments. He was also one of the first National Academy of Engineers elected at UT. Along with Bill Wade, he established the first industrial consortia at UT to support oil recovery research. Above all, Bob was a mentor, friend and inspiration to many petroleum and chemical engineering students and faculty.
As the University of Calgary’s first Canada Excellence Research Chair in Materials Engineering for Unconventional Oil Reservoirs at the University of Calgary, Steven Bryant brought together advances in nanotechnology, novel materials and microbiology to re-imagine how society can benefit from hydrocarbon resources with reduced environmental impact. Discoveries from this work have produced twenty invention disclosures and five startup companies in the last five years. He continues this research in his current role as Schulich School of Engineering Research Chair in Materials Engineering, while also leading the development of strategies for transdisciplinary studies and for engagement of students and faculty in research aimed at innovation.
