Dr. Ahmad Sorour

Dr. Ahmad Sorour is an Assistant Professor in Department of Mechanical Engineering in KFUPM. He is also Director of Interdisciplinary Research Center for Advanced Materials. He completed his PhD in Department of Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 2014. Earlier he completed his BSc and MSc from KFUPM. His research Interests cover coating, tribology, high temperature corrosion, material characterizations, and metal matrix composites.

Title of presentation:
Opening Remarks

Prof. Philippe Marcus

Professor Philippe Marcus is Director of Research at CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) and Head of the Research Group of Physical Chemistry of Surfaces of Institut de Recherche de Chimie Paris, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris, Chimie ParisTech, France. Dr Marcus received his Ph. D. (1979) in Physical Sciences from University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, France. His field of research is surface chemistry, surface electrochemistry, and corrosion science, with emphasis on the understanding of the structure and properties of metal and alloy surfaces and thin oxide layers. His research interests include the growth mechanisms and structure of oxide layers on metals and alloys in gaseous and aqueous environments, adsorption of inorganic, organic and biomolecules, the mechanisms of corrosion of metals and alloys at the nanoscale, passivity, passivity breakdown and localized corrosion, initial stages of high temperature oxidation, and the applications of advanced surface analytical methods such as X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy and Spectroscopy, and Time-of-Flight Secondary Ions Mass Spectrometry. Pr. Marcus has published over 500 papers in scientific journals, books and conference proceedings in the areas of surface chemistry and electrochemistry, surface analysis, corrosion science, and materials science.

Title of presentation:
Materials Degradation - From Nanoscale Understanding to Innovative Solutions

Eng. Oscar Salazarn

Eng. Oscar D. Salazar is a Nonmetallic Engineering Specialist working in the Nonmetallic Engineering Division of Saudi Aramco’s Consulting Services Department. Prior to joining Saudi Aramco, he worked in Weatherford International where he was in charge of research, product development, and lab qualification of nonmetallic materials for downhole applications, including composites, elastomers, and coatings. Oscar also worked as an independent consultant in nonmetallic materials in several projects for Total and Conoco. His work experience extends to 25 years in nonmetallic and coatings, covering a broad spectrum of activities such as design of experiments, failure analysis, development of engineering standards, materials selection and research and development. Oscar received his M.S. degree in Polymer Science from the University of Akron, Akron, Ohio. In addition, he has academic experience in root cause analysis through courses at the university level.

Title of presentation:
A Critical Review of Non-metallic Technologies for Downhole Applications

Dr. Ime Obot

Dr. Ime B. Obot is an Associate Professor/Research Scientist II at the Center of Research Excellence in Corrosion (CoRE-C) of the Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He obtained BSc in Applied Chemistry from the University of Uyo, Nigeria in 2003, MSc (Physical Chemistry) and PhD (Physical Chemistry-Corrosion Electrochemistry) from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria in 2006 and 2012, respectively. His research Interests include Corrosion and Scale Inhibition; Sweet Corrosion; Sour Corrosion; Microbial Influenced Corrosion; Molecular Engineering; Chemo-informatics, QSAR and Machine learning; Corrosion in Cooling Water Systems; High Temperature Acid corrosion; Computational Chemistry.

Title of presentation:
Materials Degradation Control Using Corrosion Inhibitors: From Computational Discovery to Laboratory Development

Prof. Neçar Merah

Professor Nesar Merah is a Professor in Department of Mechanical Engineering in KFUPM. He completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique, University of Montreal, Canada in 1995. Earlier he completed his BSc and MSc from Mechanical Engineering, University of Tulsa, OK, USA. His research interests in fatigue of engineering materials and structures (alloys, composites and nanocomposites), fracture mechanics and failure analysis, friction stir welding and processing, and finite element analysis.

Title of presentation:
Weathering Effects on Glass Fibre Reinforced Thermosets Used in Piping Systems

Prof. Digby D. Macdonald

Professor Digby D. Macdonald gained his BSc and MSc degrees in Chemistry at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the University of Calgary in Canada. He has served as Assistant Research Officer at Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Lecturer in Chemistry at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Senior Research Associate at Alberta Sulfur Research, Honorary Associate Professor at the Chemistry Department of the University of Calgary, Director and Professor of the Fontana Corrosion Center, Ohio State University, Vice President, Physical Sciences Division, SRI International, Menlo Park, California and has been Professor and later Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Pennsylvania State University since 1991. Professor Macdonald has received numerous awards and honours. His professional competence lies in the fields of electrochemistry, corrosion science, battery science and technology, thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, high temperature aqueous chemistry, nuclear power technology, energy conversion technology, and physical chemistry.

Title of presentation:
Why We Must Embrace Determinism When Predicting Physico-chemical Phenomenon