Energy and environmental issues are of critical national
and global importance. The issues are diverse and
include a very large number of areas with some representative
research programs provided below.
A critical issue includes the efficient use of
limited resources with maximum environmental protection.
Several relevant experimental, computational and
theoretical research projects are being carried out
in our Department. These include, for example,
the study of fire safety, miniature engines and fuel cells,
pollutant formation during combustion,
transport processes during soil and groundwater cleanup,
cooling of electronic components at the chip level,
microscale phase change
for efficient power and thermal management to minimize
energy use and environmental impact, turbulent energy
transfer in reacting systems, thermoelectric cooling
and power generation, energy requirements for large
data centers with clusters of web servers, stand alone
power generation for buildings, industries.
The Department fosters ongoing collaborative associations
with the Energy and Environment Center at Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, the Energy and Resources Group on campus,
the MicroTechnology Center of Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, and the School of Architecture in areas such
as indoor air quality and building energy efficiency.
Faculty members involved in Energy and the Environment are
Professors
V. P. Carey,
J. Y. Chen,
R. Dibble,
C.
Fernandez-Pello,
M. Frenklach,
R. Greif,
C.
Grigoropoulos,
A. Majumdar,
A. K.
Oppenheim (Emeritus),
P. J.
Pagni (Emeritus),
B. Rubinsky,
R. F.
Sawyer (Emeritus),
and
K.
Udell (Emeritus).