Lecturers

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.

 

Ronald K. Hanson

Ronald K. Hanson received his Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University. He has been affiliated with the mechanical engineering department at Stanford since 1972, serving as department chair from 1993-2003 and holding the Woodard Chair from 1994. Dr. Hanson is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Optical Society of America (OSA), and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). He is a recipient of the Silver Medal and the Alfred Egerton Gold Medal of the Combustion Institute, the R.I.Soloukhin Award of the Institute for Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems (IDERS), and the AIAA Awards for Propellants and Combustion and for Advanced Measurement Technology.

Dr. Hanson’s research interests are in laser diagnostics and sensors, shock wave physics and chemistry, laser spectroscopy, chemical kinetics, combustion science, and advanced propulsion. Hanson is a Principal Investigator at the Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center (CEFRC).

 

Prof. M. Pilling

Michael J. Pilling received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1967 and was appointed Professor of Physical Chemistry at Leeds in 1989. Professor Pilling has worked extensively in chemical kinetics for over 30 years, especially on laboratory measurements using laser flash photolysis. Since moving to Leeds, he has initiated a research program in atmospheric chemistry, and developed techniques for reducing the size of chemical mechanisms using objective methods based on sensitivity analysis. Professor Pilling’s research interests center on fundamental chemical kinetics and applications in atmospheric chemistry and combustion. Professor Pilling was the Chairman of the UK Air Quality Expert Group and the Director of the Distributed Institute for Atmospheric Composition (DIAC) in the UK, both from 2002 - 2008. Professor Pilling has published over 200 papers and was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Prizes for Reaction Kinetics in 1992 and Combustion and Hydrocarbon Oxidation in 2001, the Sugden Prize of the Combustion Institute in 1993, the Polanyi Medal at the 13th International Symposium on Gas Kinetics in 1994, the Haagen Smit prize in 2010 and he was the Royal Society of Chemistry’s John Jeyes Lecturer for Environmental Science in 2001. He was awarded a CBE in 2008

 

Prof. Reitz

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. Professor Reitz is a Principal Investigator at the Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center.

 

Gautam Kalghatgi

Gautam Kalghatgi joined Saudi Aramco in October 2010 after 31 years with Shell Research Ltd. in the UK. Currently, he is also a Visiting Professor at Imperial College, London and at Oxford University. He has held similar professorial appointments in the past at KTH, Stockholm; Technical University, Eindhoven and Sheffield University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, SAE, I.Mech.E. and the Combustion Institute and is on the editorial boards of several journals and on the International Board of Directors  of the Combustion Institute. He has published around 150 papers and a recent book, “Fuel/Engine Interactions” on combustion, fuels and engine research and transport energy.  He has a B.Tech. from I.I.T. Bombay (1972) and Ph.D. from Bristol University (1975) in Aeronautical Engineering. From 1975 to 1979, he did post-doctoral research in turbulent combustion at Southampton University with Prof. Ken Bray.

 

Lieuwen

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.

 

Richard Yetter is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. He received his PhD from Princeton University and has conducted research in high temperature combustion chemistry, heterogeneous combustion, and energetic materials for over thirty years. He currently serves as editor-in-chief of Combustion Science and Technology.