Three researchers from Stanford’s School of Earth Sciences have been honored with a 2014 Eni Award, a prize aimed at promoting more efficient and sustainable energy sources, as well as inspiring future generations of researchers.

The researchers, Tapan Mukerji, associate professor of energy resources engineering and of geophysics, Gary Mavko, professor of geophysics, and Jack Dvorkin, a senior research scientist in geophysics, were honored with this year’s Eni Award in “New Frontiers of Hydrocarbons”, for their work in devising a way to obtain quantitative information about the rocks and liquids that lie beneath the earth’s crust. This information is critical for research related to the production of oil and gas. Dario Grana, a Stanford alumnus who is now an assistant professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Wyoming, was also part of the prize-winning team, which was led by Mukerji.

The Eni Award is an honor bestowed by the Italian energy company Eni S.p.A. to recognize scientific research that advances our knowledge and ability to use more efficient and sustainable energy sources. The Eni Scientific Award Committee that selects the Eni Award winners is comprised of Nobel Prize winners, researchers and scientists.

This year, the 23-member scientific award committee received over 1,400 applications for the 2014 Eni Awards. Two prizes were given for “New Frontiers of Hydrocarbons” to acknowledge the research of two separate research groups. The other prize recipient was Amir Hoveyda, a professor of chemistry at Boston College, who has identified new and particularly efficient methods for synthesizing complex molecules with specific shape arrangements. The winners received their Eni Award medals at a special awards ceremony held in Rome on June 17, 2014.