Patricia Varela, Ph.D., Geohazards Project Professional, Geosyntec Consultants Inc

Dr. Varela obtained her Geological Engineering bachelor’s degree at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and completed her Master and Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering at Texas A&M University. She works as a Project Professional for the geohazards team of Geosyntec Consultants Inc. from The Woodlands office. Her experience includes offshore and onshore site characterization for offshore wind farm cable routes, pipeline routing, and ROW integrity assessment. Her professional practice includes risk-based decision-making hazard, vulnerability and risk mapping using GIS, remote sensing techniques, and geostatistics.

As part of Patricia’s volunteering involvement, she was the Founding President of the SUT-TAMU student chapter, the first official student-driven branch of the organization in the US. She currently serves as the Chair of the Young Professionals branch (SUT-US YP) and as Deputy of the Marine Renewable Energy Committee (SUT MREC). She was recognized as a member of the OTC 2021 Emerging Leader Inaugural Class for her key technology and leadership contributions to the offshore energy sector and her service to the industry. Her goal is to motivate, mentor and support students on their path to become successful and thriving young professionals.