Education

  • Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology, 1999
  • M.S., Georgia Institute of Technology, 1997
  • B.S., Calvin College, 1995

Background

Dr. Tim Lieuwen is Regents’ Professor, holder of the David S. Lewis, Jr. Chair and the executive director of the Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech (energy.gatech.edu). His interests lie in the areas of clean energy and propulsion systems, energy policy, acoustics, fluid mechanics, and combustion. He works closely with industry and government, particularly focusing on fundamental problems that arise out of development of clean combustion systems or utilization of alternative fuels. If you are a prospective graduate student and like making fire, making noise, and saving the planet all at the same time, these are all great problems to work on!

Dr. Lieuwen is a member of the  National Academy of Engineering, a Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of ASME, AIAA, APS, and The Combustion Institute. Other national awards include the ASME Westinghouse Gold Medal and AIAA Lawrence Pendray Award. He serves on governing or advisory boards of 3 DOE national labs (ORNL, PNNL, and NREL). He has authored or edited four combustion books, including the textbook Unsteady Combustor Physics, and over 400 other publications. He has also received five patents, all liscenced to industry, and founded and serves as CTO of TurbineLogic, an analytics firm working in the energy industry. He is a member of the National Petroleum Counsel and is editor-in-chief of an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics book series.  

Research

Distinctions & Awards

  • AIAA Pendray Award for Aerospace Literature (2020)
  • Foreign Fellow, Indian National Academy of Engineering (2019)
  • Elected Member, National Academy of Engineering (2018)
  • ASME George Westinghouse Gold Medal (2018)
  • Fellow
    • American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (2015)
    • American Society of Mechanical Engineers (2011)
    • American Physical Society (2020)
    • The Combustion Institute (2019)
  • Regents’ Professor (2018)
  • Pratt & Whitney Visiting Chair, Indian Institute of Science (2014)
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers George Westinghouse Silver Medal for outstanding contributions to combustion science and technology for low-emission gas turbines (2010)
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineering/IGTI Turbo Expo Best Paper Award (2005)
  • American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
    • Lawrence Sperry Award (2005)
    • Gordon A. Oates Air Breathing Propulsion Graduate Award (1999)
  • Science Applications International Corporation
    • Student Best Paper Contest (advisor to Ben Bellows) 2004)(
    • Student Best Paper Contest Winner (1999)
  • Sigma Xi (Georgia Tech Chapter) Young Faculty Award (2004)
  • Lockheed-Martin Corporation Deans Award for Teaching Excellence (2004)
  • National Science Foundation Career Award (2000)
  • Registered Professional Engineer in Georgia

Research Awards:

  • AIAA Scitech Best Paper Award (2018)
  • ASME/IGTI Turbo Expo Best Paper Award (2011)
  • ASME/IGTI Turbo Expo Best Paper Award (2005)
  • Army Research Office Young Investigator Award (2001)
  • NSF CAREER Award winner (2000)

Other Society Awards

  • ASME George Westinghouse Silver Medal (2010)
  • AIAA Lawrence Sperry Award (2005)

 

Representative Publications

Representative Technical Publications (out of >350):

1) Unsteady Combustor Physics, T. Lieuwen, Cambridge Press, 2012
2) Smith, T., Douglas, C., Emerson, B., Lieuwen, T., “Axial Evolution of Forced Helical Flame and Flow Disturbances”, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 844, pp. 323-356, 2018.
3) Chterev, I., Rock, N., Ek, H., Emerson, B., Seitzman, J., Lee, T., Jiang, N., Roy, S., Gord, J., Lieuwen, T., “Simultaneous Imaging of Fuel, OH, and Three Component Velocity Fields in High Pressure, Liquid Fueled, Swirl Stabilized Flames at 5 kHz”,  Combustion and Flame, 2017, pp. 150-165.
4) Suresha, S., Sujith, R.I., Emerson, B., Lieuwen, T., “Nonlinear dynamics and Intermittency in a Turbulent Reacting Wake with Density Ratio as Bifurcation Parameter”,  Physical Review E, Vol. 94, 2016.
5) Emerson, B., Lieuwen, T., Dynamics of Harmonically Excited Bluff Body Wakes Near the Global Hydrodynamic Stability Boundary, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 779, pp. 716-750, 2015.

Representative Opinion Pieces or Popular Level Pieces

6) Lieuwen, T., Beyah, R., Lee, W., Opinion piece “We Need Workforce Development for Cybersecurity in the Energy Sector”, The Hill, Aug. 26, 2020.
7) Lieuwen, T., “Drop in or Drop Out? Considering Fuels and Energy Carriers for a Decarbonized Economy”, Power Engineering,  July 31, 2020.
8) Lieuwen T., Opinion piece in “Turbine Failures and the Grand Experiment in Resiliency from COVID-19”, Power Engineering, May 22, 2020.
9) Lieuwen, T., Noble, D. “The New Industrial Data Economy”, Mechanical Engineering, May 2019
10) Amato, A., Cheng, M., Lieuwen, T., “Stationary Gas Turbine Combustion: Technology Needs and Policy Considerations”, Combustion and Flame, Vol. 160, 2013, pp. 1311-1314.