UCLA Engineering Dean Vijay K. Dhir Receives 2004 Max Jakob Memorial Award

Date: October 8, 2004
Contact: Chris Sutton ( chris@ea.ucla.edu )
Phone: 310-206-0540

Dean Vijay K. Dhir

Vijay K. Dhir, dean of the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been named the recipient of the 2004 Max Jakob Memorial Award. Dhir is the first person from UCLA to receive the award since it was given to Llewellyn M.K. Boelter, the founding dean of the School of Engineering.

The award was established by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Society of Chemical Engineers to honor Max Jakob, pioneer in the science of heat transfer, and to commemorate his contributions as a researcher, educator and author. The honor is bestowed annually to recognize eminent achievement and distinguished service in the area of heat transfer.

The award consists of a bronze plaque, an engraved certificate and an honorarium. As the recipient of the 2004 award, Dhir will give a lecture at the 2005 Heat Transfer Conference in San Francisco next summer.

Only four faculty members from the University of California have received the award since it was established in 1961. In addition to Dhir and Boelter, recipients include the late Ralph Seban, UC Berkeley professor, and the late Chang-Lin Tien, former Chancellor of UC Berkeley. Information on the award and past recipients is available at http://www.asme.org/divisions/htd/awards/mjaward.html.

Dhir was named dean of the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science in March 2003. He has been a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCLA since 1974.

Dhir has also received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Heat Transfer Memorial Award in the Science category and the Donald Q. Kern award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He is a fellow of ASME and the American Nuclear Society. He was inducted into the University of Kentucky's College of Engineering Hall of Distinction in 2004.

Dhir has been the senior technical editor for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Journal of Heat Transfer since 2000. Prior to being named senior technical editor, he also served as the Journal's associate editor. Dhir also leads the boiling heat transfer lab at UCLA, which has conducted pioneering work in fundamental and applied sciences involving boiling, an efficient process of heat removal.