We are proud to announce that Sunghyun Ko, a PhD student, has earned 3rd place in the PhD division of the 2026 Regional SPE Paper Contest for the Gulf coast/Southwestern region held on March 28, 2026 in Houston, Texas.

Sunghyun advanced to the regional competition after placing second in the master’s division at UT Austin’s annual SPE local paper contest early this year. His research presents a comparative study of ketones for shale well treatment, connecting laboratory validation to scale-up evaluation.

​Congratulations Sunghyun on this remarkable achievement!