November 10, 2011

Engineering society honors Asghar Esmaeeli

by Tim Crosby

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- An engineering faculty member at Southern Illinois University Carbondale is being honored by a leading professional group in his field.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers recently named Asghar Esmaeeli, associate professor of mechanical engineering and energy processes, a fellow in the organization. The distinction is the highest offered by the ASME, which is considered the flagship professional organization for such engineers.  Fellows are recognized for exceptional engineering achievements and contributions to the field.

The ASME Board of Governors selected Esmaeeli for the honor after his peers nominated him.  Fellows must have at least 10 years active practice in the field, as well as at least 10 years of continuous active membership in ASME. 
During the last two decades, Esmaeeli contributed greatly to direct numerical simulations of multiphase flows. He also developed new computational methods as well as pioneering their applications to a large number of technologically prototypical systems.

Esmaeeli ‘s results for bubbly flows, boiling and electrohydrodynamics of multiphase flows have led to fundamental new understandings that help define the current state of the art, said Rasit Koc, professor and chair the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Energy Processes, in the College of Engineering at SIU Carbondale.

Along with this latest award, Esmaeeli remains an active member of the professional community in his field.  He serves on the editorial board of two journals and has helped put together several conferences.

Esmaeeli earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering and scientific computing in 1995 at the University of Michigan.  He earned his master’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1988 in Isfahan University of Technology in Iran and his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering there in 1986.  He joined the SIU Carbondale faculty in 2005.

ASME is a non-profit membership organization aimed at collaboration, sharing knowledge, career enrichment and skills development among the global engineer community.  It now has more than 120,000 active members, only about 3,000 of who are selected as fellows.  It is in more than 150 countries worldwide.