Dr Larry Lake, of the University of Texas at Austin, gave the final talk in Texas A&M University at Qatar’s 2016-2017 Distinguished Lecture Series.
In his talk ‘Modelling and Simplicity: Occam’s razor in the 21st Century’, Lake advocated for the benefits in applying the law of economy when constructing unwieldly, complex models.
Lake said large-scale models are often overly complicated, require vast computing resources, costly to build and run and often not achieving their objectives.
By contrast, simple models are typically more flexible and easy to use, less costly in time and resource, requiring less data and can provide meaningful insights.
In his own research in geological modelling, Lake adopts Occam’s razor, a philosophical principle that states that the simpler explanation for something is usually better than the complicated one.
Lake also spent time with faculty discussing their research, helping building new links and meeting students.
He is the Shahid and Sharon Ullah Endowed Chair in Petroleum and Geo-systems Engineering Department at University of Texas at Austin.
A member of the US National Academy of Engineering, he is globally recognised for his research and publications in fundamental processes, integrated reservoir characterization, geostatistics, reservoir engineering and enhanced oil recovery.
Since 2006, he has been an honorary member of the Society of Petroleum Engineering.
Dr Cesar O Malave, dean of Tamuq, described the Distinguished Lecture Series as a visible example of the institution’s commitment to creating and sustaining a culture of knowledge sharing and expertise in Qatar.
Dr Mike Bowman, chair of the Petroleum Engineering Programme, said it was a fitting climax to the year’s events.