Joseph Katz, William F. Ward Distinguished Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been named the recipient of the 2021 Thermal Fluids Engineering Award by the American Society of Thermal and Fluids Engineers (ASTFE). He was presented with the award at the 2021 ASTFE Conference, held May 26-28 online.
The award recognizes substantial contributions to thermal and fluids engineering. Katz was selected on the basis of his extensive publications on rotating flows with applications to gas turbine technology and air-sea interactions. Also recognized is his long-standing service to the mechanical engineering profession through the ASME Fluids Engineering Division and various Society-level appointments.
Katz’s research extends over a wide range of fields, with a common theme involving experimental fluid mechanics, and development of advanced optical diagnostics techniques for laboratory and field applications. His group has studied laboratory and oceanic boundary layers, flows in turbomachines, flow-structure interactions, swimming behavior of marine plankton in the laboratory and in the ocean, as well as cavitation, bubble, and droplet dynamics, the latter focusing on interfacial phenomena associated with oil spills.
ASTFE, established in 2014, aims at providing opportunities to promote the dissemination of information and knowledge regarding thermal and fluids engineering, both nationally and internationally. It aligns itself with globally collaborative activities in the traditional areas of heat transfer and fluids engineering, as well as in emerging areas such as those related to energy, environmental sustainability, manufacturing, thermal management, and micro- and nano-scale transport phenomena.