Texas A&M University at Qatar’s (Tamuq) Dr Nayef Alyafei has been named an Energy Influencer for 2020 by The Way Ahead, a publication of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).
Alyafei is a Class of 2009 petroleum engineering graduate of Tamuq, a Qatar Foundation partner university, and an assistant professor in the Petroleum Engineering Programme.
After completing his PhD in petroleum engineering from Imperial College London in 2015, Alyafei joined the Tamuq faculty, becoming the youngest faculty member in the Department and the first Tamuq graduate to join the faculty of the branch campus. He recently published his first textbook, Fundamentals of Reservoir Rock Properties, as well as two educational magazines.
Alyafei plays an active role in providing guidance to the student body and is an adviser to Tamuq’s SPE student chapter. He had previously won the university’s Teaching Excellence Award and the Texas A&M University Association of Former College-level Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching - the youngest faculty member to receive these awards and also the assistant professor to receive them.
In 2018, he was named Tamuq’s Alumnus of the Year for his teaching and mentoring activities.
With his ability to present challenging engineering and fundamental concepts in a lucid manner, Alyafei is considered an inspirational teacher by his students. In the classroom, his enthusiasm and teaching skills are readily apparent, and this creates an inspiring learning environment for the students
In a short time, Alyafei generated more than $2.5mn in research grants. He leads a research group that focuses on understanding multiphase flow in porous media at the micro and macro scales - in particular, on wettability and spontaneous imbibition studies both experimentally and numerically.
Tamuq dean Dr César Octavio Malavé said, “In everything he does - whether in the classroom or the lab, or when he volunteers his time to our ongoing STEM outreach activities - Dr Nayef Alyafei leads by example. Nayef truly embodies the Texas A&M core values of excellence, integrity, leadership, loyalty, respect and selfless service, and we are proud to call him an Aggie engineer.”
Tamuq’s Dr Nayef Alyafei has been named an Energy Influencer for 2020.
