INVITED SPEAKERS

This presentation shares one example of the potentially long arc of research projects by describing our investigations of flames under the influence of electric fields. Hydrocarbon flames have long been known to contain naturally a small quantity of charged species that allow them to act as weak plasmas. Electric fields can therefore influence these flames, including changing their shape and direction, their sooting behavior, and their ignition limits. Understanding the multi-physics involved in these effects started for us more than 20 years (and 5 Ph.D.students) ago, culminating in unique microgravity experiments underway now on the International Space Station. This example shows the evolution of the research, as well as highlighting some of the remarkable challenges and opportunities of running experiments on a laboratory circling the earth 400 km above us at 7.7 km/sec.

Derek Dunn-Rankin is Professor and Chair in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). He is co-Director for CAMP, the California Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, a program designed to increase minority representation in science and technology. Dr. Dunn-Rankin’s research is in combustion and energy, droplet and sprays, and applications of laser diagnostic techniques to practical engineering systems. He has been faculty advisor for 30 Ph.D. and 66 M.S. graduates at UCI. He received a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship in 2008 and the Oppenheim Prize of the Institute for the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems in 2013.