Ashraf Al-Tahini is currently the R&D Director at Aramco Services Company. Ashraf is managing three research centers conducting both upstream and downstream research at Houston, Boston and Detroit. Prior to his current role, Dr. Al-Tahini was the assistant to Vice President of Petroleum Engineering and Development at Saudi Aramco. Dr. Al-Tahini holds PhD and MS in Petroleum Engineering from University of Oklahoma and BS in Chemical Engineering from King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals at Dhahran of  Saudi Arabia. Dr. Al-Tahini has received several awards including the Rock Mechanics Award for the University of Oklahoma Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering (MPGE) for the years 2003 and 2006 and the 2010 SPE Young member Outstanding Service Award. Dr. Al-Tahini was the 2011 chairperson of SPE Saudi Arabia Section and the chairperson of the 2009 Saudi Arabia SPE Section Annual Technical Symposium and Exhibition. Dr. Al-Tahini has more than 17 technical publications and 3 US patents.