John Killough is professor emeritus of petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University. His more than 50 years in the petroleum industry included positions with Halliburton/Landmark, Exxon, and ARCO, as well as overseas assignments with Saudi Aramco, Sonatrach, and Total. He spent 10 years at the University of Houston department of chemical engineering and more than a decade at the department of petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University, where he retired as the Hickox Professor in 2022. 

His SPE awards include the 2013 SPE International Reservoir Description and Dynamics award and the 2016 SPE International Distinguished Member. In 1977, he was awarded the AIME Rossiter W. Raymond Award and the Alfred Noble Prize by the IEEE. He is the author of approximately 100 technical papers and has often presented his work at SPE conferences. He has served on SPE committees, including as chair of the Reservoir Simulation Symposium and SPE ATCE reservoir engineering coordinator.

He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering, and a PhD in mathematical sciences, all from Rice University.