Kun Guo defended the degree philosophiae doctor 12 April. He is the second PhD student to graduate from The National IOR Centre of Norway.
When UiS was awarded The National IOR Centre of Norway in December 2013, it was required that the Centre should educate at least 13 PhDs in the first five years. Now the Centre has been in operation for four and a half years, and already 20 PhD students have joined us. The first to defend his doctoral degree was Aojie Hong. The second was Kun Guo who defended the thesis «In-situ and ex-situ catalytic upgrading of heavy crude oil».
Working with heavy crude oil
Kun started his PhD project in April 2015 and has been working on the novel application of nanomaterials for in-situ upgrading and recovery of heavy crude oil. After two years, he had already published five journal papers as the first author on top journals in the petroleum field, such as «Energy & Fuels» and «Fuel». Two more journal papers are now reviewed. Besides, he has five oral and poster presentations in international conferences.
«These academic achievements have already made him very qualified for the PhD degree at UiS, his supervisor Zhixin Yu said half a year ago.
«I made it!»
Kun Guo himself also took the opportunity to praise his own achievement at the celebration afterwards.
«Yes, I made it! I would like to thank my supervisors and my colleagues. I would also like to thank myself,» he said in his speech.
Guo's research skills and expertise are also complimented by Prof. Quan Shi’s group (State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing) at China University of Petroleum, Beijing, where Guo spent a research stay as an exchange researcher, financed by the Petroleum Research School of Norway.
Text and photo: Kjersti Riiber