Dr. Eric van Oort became Professor in Petroleum Engineering in 2012 after a 20-year industry career with Shell. He has a PhD degree in Chemical Physics from the University of Amsterdam, and holds the Richard B. Curran Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He has (co-)authored more than 250 technical papers, holds 20 patents, is a former SPE Distinguished Lecturer, a SPE Distinguished Member, and the 2017 winner of the international SPE Drilling Engineering Award. He is the director of the RAPID industry consortium at UT Austin with 15-20 industry members, dedicated to drilling automation and optimization, data analytics, modeling and digital twinning, robotics, and sustainability issues such as geothermal & CCS well construction, well integrity, zonal isolation and permanent well P&A. He has co-founded SPYPR Automation and Ultradeep Energy Company, is the CEO of EVO Energy Consulting, and is the author of the recent book “Managed Pressure Drilling: Fundamentals, Methods and Applications”.