Sustainable Energy Research and Education in the University of Utah’s Department of Mechanical Engineering focuses on developing clean energy systems, including direct energy production, energy storage, and the integration of energy efficient technologies. Core strengths include wind energy, thermophotovoltaic power generation, computational analysis and data sciences, multi-scale heat transfer (nano to geologic scales), and energy storage.
Faculty and Labs
Marc Calaf
Lab – Wind Energy & Turbulence
The Wind Energy and Turbulence laboratory was designed to improve the current understanding of wind energy harvesting. To achieve this goal we dedicate much of our efforts to develop new knowledge on the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer. Our focus resides on using high resolution numerical simulations which we ultimately complement with the analysis of experimental data.
Pania Newell
Lab – Integrated Multi-Physics Laboratory
Investigating multi-physics, multi-scale phenomena through integrating theoretical, experimental, computational analysis combined with data sciences.
Alex Novoselov
Lab – Numerical Turbulence, Energy, and Reactions Group
The Numerical Turbulence, Energy, and Reactions lab focuses on making an impact against climate change through the computational study of flow and energy. Currently, we specialize in using high-fidelity simulations to better understand turbulent reacting flows in practical devices. When our tools reach the limits of what they can simulate, we develop new, state-of-the-art models to overcome these restrictions and continue our studies.
Eric Pardyjak
The work done at the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at the University of Utah attempts to further the understanding of transport phoenomena in the natural world. To this end, the laboratory employs a variety of state of the art scientific investigation techniques including: large scale field measurements (both Urban and Natural Environment), numerical modeling and simulation, and laboratory scale measurements.
Keunhan (Kay) Park
Lab – Utah Nanoscale Thermal Transport (NT2) Lab
Focuses on research and education of nanoscale energy transport and conversion processes. Our research interests include fundamental physics of thermal, electrical, and photonic energy interactions at nanoscales, nanostructure-based energy applications, nanoscale thermophysical instrumentations, and tip-based nanoimaging and spectroscopy.
Sameer Rao
Research Interests include: Multiscale heat & mass transfer, Energy conversion & storage, Water harvesting & purification, and Thermal management.
Samira Shiri
Lab – Shiri Lab: Interfacial & Transport Physics
Research interests are in the areas of High throughput experiments and data analysis, underlying physics of active matter, bioinspired materials and mechanisms, and Biophysics: forensic science.
Roseanne Warren
Lab – Advanced Energy Innovations
The mission of our group is to pioneer new nanoscale manufacturing methods that will improve the future of society. Our two primary areas of focus are: 1) electrochemical energy storage devices (batteries & supercapacitors), and 2) micro/nanofluidic technologies for manufacturing and human health applications.