Manika Prasad is a Professor of Petroleum Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. She directs the DHI/Fluids and the OCLASSH (Organic, Clay, Sand, Shale) research consortia and is the director of the Center for Rock Abuse. Manika received a BS (Honors) in geology (with distinction), an MS (Diplom) in geology with marine geology and geophysics as minors, and a Ph.D. (magna cum laude) in geophysics, from the Christian-Albrechts-Universität at Kiel in Germany. Manika won the Merit Scholarship Award from the University of Bombay for her BS achievements and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Scholarship for PhD research at Kiel University. She has worked at the Mineral Physics Laboratory at University of Hawaii, Stanford Rock Physics Laboratory at Stanford University, and at the Center for Rock Abuse at the Petroleum Engineering and Geophysics departments at Colorado School of Mines. Her students have won student paper awards. She was an advisor for Native American Students at Stanford and was named Outstanding Mentor to Native American Students during 2002 - 2003. Manika was the Fall 2012 SEG-AAPG Distinguished Lecturer and got the SEG Outstanding Educator Award in 2015.
Manika's main interests lie in understanding the basic principles governing the physical properties of rocks, fluids, and rocks with fluids. She is also interested in understanding how ant-sized phenomena control elephant-sized features. She has published widely in geophysical, geological, petroleum engineering, and nondestructive testing journals.