Jacqueline H. Chen received her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University in 1989, and is presently a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at the Combustion Research Facility of the Sandia National Laboratories.
Dr. Chen’s research interests are in the areas of petascale simulations of turbulent combustion focusing on turbulence-chemistry interactions in combustion of alternative fuels for transportation and power applications. She works closely with computer scientists on time-varying visualization of petascale simulated data, topology of combustion and flow features, parallel feature detection and tracking algorithms for combustion, and co-design of combustion algorithms for future exascale computer architectures. Chen is a Principal Investigator at the Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center and is the director of the DOE Center for Exascale Simulation of Combustion in Turbulence (ExaCT).
William H. Green received his Ph.D. in experimental physical chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1988, and is presently the Hottel Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.
Green’s research interests are in the areas of chemical kinetics, molecular simulation and free radical reactions. His research group focuses on the central problem of reactive chemical engineering: quantitatively predicting the time evolution of chemical mixtures.
Professor Green is a Principal Investigator at the Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center.
Timothy C. Lieuwen received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1999 and is presently a Professor in the School of Aerospace at Georgia Tech.
Professor Lieuwen’s research interests are in dynamical combustion phenomenon, hydrodynamic stability of reacting flows, and thermoacoustics, as applied to low emissions combustion systems for power and propulsion applications.
Heinz Pitsch received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from RWTH Aachen University in 1998. He held post-doctoral positions at UC San Diego and Stanford University and joined the faculty of Stanford University in 2003. In 2010 he returned to RWTH Aachen University to assume his present position as Head of the Institute for Combustion Technology.
Professor Pitsch’s research interests are in combustion theory, modeling of turbulent reacting flows with large-eddy simulations, development and analysis of chemical kinetic reaction mechanisms, modeling of pollutant formation, development of numerical methods, investigation and modeling of combustion instabilities, and model applications to modern aircraft engine combustion, reciprocating engine combustion, and chemical processing.
Rolf D. Reitz received his Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University in 1978, and is presently the Wisconsin Distinguished Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Professor Reitz's research interests include internal combustion engines and sprays. He is currently developing advanced computer models for fuel injected engines, including diesel and spark-ignited engines. Reitz also performs engine and high-pressure spray experiments to study the effect of fuel injection characteristics on diesel engine soot and NOx emissions, as well as to provide validation data for the computer models.
George (“Geo”) A. Richards received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in 1987, and is presently a Focus Area Leader in the Office of Research and Development of the National Energy Technology Laboratory.
Dr. Richards’s research interests are in energy systems, which include all types of energy conversion devices particularly gas turbines and combustion. Since 2001, he has led the Energy System Dynamics Focus Area, providing technical direction for research groups investigating stationary turbines, coal/biomass gasification, carbon dioxide capture, combustion, heat transfer, high-temperature fuel cells, fuel processing, and sensors. He also serves as a research advisor for both graduate and post-graduate investigators visiting from academic institutions, and has been an adjunct faculty member at West Virginia University and the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Richards currently serves as an associate editor for AIAA Journal of Propulsion and Power.
Robert H. Socolow received his Ph.D. in theoretical high energy physics from Harvard University in 1964, and is presently Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University.
Professor Socolow’s current research focuses on global carbon management and fossil-carbon sequestration. Professor Socolow is Co-Director of The Carbon Mitigation Initiative and Director, Siebel Energy Grand Challenge at the Princeton Environmental Institute. His research focuses on technology and policy for fossil fuels under climate constraints. He was awarded the 2003 Leo Szilard Lectureship of the American Physical Society: “For leadership in establishing energy and environmental problems as legitimate research fields for physicists, and for demonstrating that these broadly defined problems can be addressed with the highest scientific standards.”
Hai Wang received his Ph.D. in fuel science from the Pennsylvania State University in 1992 and is presently the Northrop Chair in Engineering, Department of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southern California and the Chang Jiang Scholar of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.
Professor Wang’s research interests are in the areas of combustion chemistry, high-temperature chemical kinetics, soot formation and its effects on climate forcing, nano-material synthesis, characterization and modeling, transport theory of nanomaterials, chemical sensors, catalysis and photocatalysis. Wang is a Principal Investigator at the Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center (CEFRC).
Richard A. Yetter, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University, received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and previously held positions at Ford Motor Company and Princeton University.
Professor Yetter’s current research interests include high temperature / high pressure combustion chemistry, heterogeneous combustion, synthesis and characterization of nanoengineered energetic materials, and micro propulsion and power systems.