Dr. Nesrin Ozalp
- About
Biography
Nesrin Ozalp is the Founding Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering at Illinois State University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington’s Mechanical Engineering Department and her MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. Dr. Ozalp specializes in the areas of experimental and numerical study of thermal transport processes with particular focus on multiphase convective and radiative heat transfer analysis of solar thermochemical processes with non-linear temperature patterns and turbulent flow dynamics. She is the Lead Principal Investigator of research projects totaling $5M+. She is the corresponding author of 140+ peer reviewed publications, Co-PI of completed Phase I of Solar Carbon Black commercialization with Fraunhofer, and she has supervised 25 graduate students’ theses. She has given 40+ invited/keynote/plenary talks on her research at institutes including the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, among others. She is the past chair of ASME Solar Energy Division Executive Committee, past chair of ASME K-6 Heat Transfer in Energy Systems technical committee, member of the Inaugural Executive Committee of the American Society of Thermal Fluids Engineers, Chair of the EU-SOLARIS European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) Scientific and Technical Committee, General Chair and/or Technical Program Chair of several ASME and ASTFE conferences on Heat Transfer and Energy Sustainability, and the recipient of many research, teaching, and service awards including the ASME Yellot Award, ASME Dedicated Service Award, Outstanding Reviewer Award by the ASME Heat Transfer Division, and the College-Level Distinguished Teaching Award by the Texas A&M Association of Former Students. Dr. Ozalp is an ASME Fellow and an ASTFE Fellow.
Research Interests & Areas
Professor Nesrin Ozalp's research focuses on experimental and numerical study of innovative solar-thermochemical energy systems to produce fuels, power, and commodities with zero emissions footprint. Her research involves designing and optimizing novel solar reactors, auxiliary components, and system parts using heat transfer, flow dynamics, kinetics, and optical analyses.