Heat Transfer Physics

Massoud Kaviany has been a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics at the University of Michigan since 1986. His teaching and research have focused on heat transfer physics, with a particular interest in porous media. His current projects include atomic structural metrics in high-performance thermoelectric materials (both electron and phonon transport) and in laser cooling of solids (including ab initio calculations of photon-electron and electron-phonon couplings) and the effect of pore water in polymer electrolyte transport and fuel cell performance. His integration of research into education is currently focused on heat transfer physics, treating in a unified manner the atomic-level kinetics of transport and interaction of phonon, electron, fluid particle, and photon. This combines ab initio (fine structure), molecular dynamics, Boltzmann transport, and macroscopic treatments, but on increasing length and times scales. His previous books include: Principles of Heat Transfer in Porous Media, Second Edition; Principles of Convective Heat Transfer, Second Edition; and Principles of Heat Transfer. His awards include the College of Engineering 2003 Education Excellence Award. He is an editor of the Journal of Nanoscale and Microscale Thermophysical Engineering and a member of the editorial board for the International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer and other international journals. He is a Fellow of the ASME, was Chair of the Committee on Theory and Fundamental Research in Heat Transfer (1995–1998), and is the recipient of the 2002 ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award (Science).