Governing Body 2023

Rick Chalaturnyk is a Professor of Geotechnical Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Alberta and holds an NSERC/Energi Simulation Industrial Research Chair in Reservoir Geomechanics. Prior to joining the University in 1997, Rick helped co-found a reservoir surveillance company called PROMORE Engineering and after joining the University, was engaged as Executive VP of Opsens Solutions, a company providing fiber-optic and non-fiber monitoring solutions to the SAGD and CO2 Storage world. At the University of Alberta, Rick has established the Reservoir Geomechanics Research Group, working primarily in the area of unconventional resource geomechanics and geological storage of CO2 and has established four unique GeoInnovation Environments, , which includes 3D printing of rocks, high temperature/pressure reservoir geomechanical testing capability and a geotechnical beam centrifuge. These GeoInnovation Environments underpin the Energi Simulation Industrial Research Consortia on Reservoir Geomechanics that includes projects focusing on how geomechanical mechanisms influence or impact reservoir flow processes, with a particular focus on in situ stress measurement, lab property measurements, modeling strategies and verification studies. He was involved in the IEA GHG Weyburn-Midale CO2 Storage and Monitoring Research Project since its inception in 2000 and is currently active as a member of the scientific and engineering research committee for the Aquistore project in Saskatchewan and several other international CCS initiatives, including integrating CCS and Geothermal technologies. Dr. Chalaturnyk served as Chair of a Canadian Standards Association Technical Committee that developed CSA Z741-12, a standard for the geological storage of CO2. In addition to research at the University of Alberta, Dr. Chalaturnyk has also founded GeoVer Inc., a reservoir geomechanics consulting company focussing on complex reservoir-geomechanical simulations and the development and deployment of advanced reservoir geomechanics surveillance technologies.