Microscale and Nanoscale Heat Transfer

Choondal B. Sobhan is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kozhikode, Kerala, India. He is also a research collaborator at the Two-Phase Heat Transfer Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder. Professor Sobhan received his bachelor of technology degree in 1984 from Regional Engineering College, Calicut, India. He obtained his master of technology and PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India in 1986 and 1990, respectively. Since then, he has been working as a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Regional Engineering College, Calicut, which is now National Institute of Technology, Calicut. He became a professor of mechanical engineering at the institute in 2006. Professor Sobhan has been a visiting faculty member at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York (2003-2006) and a visiting scholar at the Cooling Technologies Research Consortium, School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana (1999-2000). He has also held postdoctoral research positions at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (1997-1999), and the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (1999). Professor Sobhan's background is on research topics such as interferometric measurement of heat transfer, heat pipes, heat exchangers, microchannels, and micro heat pipes. His current research interests are in optical measurements at the microscale, molecular dynamics modeling of nanoscale thermal phenomena, thermal management of electronics, and numerical modeling of phase change heat spreaders and heat pipes. He has been a reviewer for (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) ASME and (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) AIAA journals, the International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Nanoscale and Microscale Thermophysical Engineering, Elsevier Journal of Aerospace Science and Technology, Journal of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, and Heat Transfer Engineering. Professor Sobhan performs collaborative research internationally with research groups at the Stokes Research Institute, University of Limerick, Ireland, and National Research Laboratory, Dong-A University, South Korea, in addition to the group at the Two-Phase Heat Transfer Laboratory, University of Colorado at Boulder. He has coauthored more than 50 papers in refereed international journals and conferences, and a chapter in the MEMS Handbook. George P. Peterson is currently the chancellor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado. Before his appointment as chancellor in July 2006, Professor Peterson served for six years as provost at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He received his BS in mechanical engineering in 1975, a BS in mathematics in 1977, and an MS in engineering in 1980, all from the Kansas State University, and a PhD in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University in 1985. In 1981 and 1982, Professor Peterson was a visiting research scientist at the NASA Johnson Space Center, and in 1985 he moved to a faculty position in the mechanical engineering department at Texas A&M University, where he conducted research and taught courses in thermodynamics and heat transfer. In 1990, he was named the Halliburton Professor of Mechanical Engineering and in 1991 was named the College of Engineering's Tenneco Professor. In 1993, Professor Peterson was invited to serve as the Program Director for the Thermal Transport and Thermal Processing Division of the National Science Foundation (NSF) where he received the NSF award for outstanding management. From June 1993 through July 1996, he served as head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University and in 1996 was appointed to the position of executive associate dean of the College of Engineering, where he also served as the associate vice chancellor for the Texas A&M University system. Before joining Texas A&M University, Professor Peterson was head of the General Engineering Technology Department at Kansas Technical Institute (now Kansas State University, Salina). Throughout his career, Professor Peterson has played an active role in helping to establish the national education and research agendas, serving on numerous industry, government, and academic task forces and committees. In this capacity, he has served as a member of a number of congressional task forces, research councils, and advisory boards, most recently serving as a member of the board of directors and vice president for education for the AIAA. In addition, he has served in a variety of different roles for federal agencies, such as the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Department of Energy (DOE), and for national task forces and committees appointed by the National Research Council (NRC) and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). He is currently serving on a number of national groups whose focus is on postsecondary education, such as the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, where he is currently serving as accreditation team chair. A fellow of both the ASME and AIAA, Professor Peterson is the author=coauthor of 12 books=book chapters, 160 refereed journal articles, more than 150 conference publications, and holds 8 patents. He has been an editor or associate editor for eight different journals and is currently serving on the editorial advisory board for two other journals. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas, and a member of Pi Tau Sigma, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, and Phi Kappa Phi societies. He has received several professional society awards, which include the Ralph James and the O.L. Andy Lewis awards from ASME, the Dow Outstanding Young Faculty Award from ASEE, the Pi Tau Sigma Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award from ASME, the AIAA Thermophysics Award, the ASME Memorial Award, the AIAA Sustained Service Award, and the Frank J. Malina Award from the International Astronautical Society. While at Texas A&M, Professor Peterson was selected to receive the Pi Tau Sigma, J. George H. Thompson Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching and the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students Outstanding Teaching Award at both the college and university levels.