Representative of the Gold Medal Selection Committee Assaad Masri (Left) and Former CI President Philippe Dagaut (Right), present the 2024 Bernard Lewis Gold Medal to Ahmed F. Ghoniem (Middle) during the 40th International Symposium – Emphasizing Energy Transition.
In this first installment of a series of articles, The Combustion Institute recognizes combustion scientists who were honored with medals and awards during the 40th International Symposium – Emphasizing Energy Transition. Ahmed F. Ghoniem (Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT], United States) is the 2024 recipient of the Bernard Lewis Gold Medal, “for his seminal contributions to numerical simulations of combustion phenomena; combustion dynamics and control, and novel combustion-based solutions to global climate change.” The Bernard Lewis Gold Medal recognizes brilliant research in the field of combustion.
Prof. Ahmed F. Ghoniem is the Ronald C. Crane Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He is a leading expert in CFD, thermochemistry and combustion. He has developed novel algorithms to simulate turbulence and their application in reacting flows, advanced CFD for dense multiphase flows; proposed and demonstrated the efficacy of new methods for passive and active control of combustion based on his fundamental work on flame dynamics; designed new technics for the production of solid and gaseous biofuels and demonstrated their scalability, proposed novel approaches for oxy-combustion for carbon capture using ion-transport membrane reactors and extended their application to the production of hydrogen and other chemicals. Prof. Ghoniem’s research on metal oxides led to new formulation of kinetics models and reactor designs for renewable and alternative fuel production using solar energy. Contributions from his research include thermochemical and kinetic pyrolysis models of biomass, thermochemical models for metal oxidation and reactor designs for chemical looping processes for oxy-combustion, fuel reforming and CO2 reuse, mechanistic models of combustion dynamics under actuation, and catalytic converter design for ultra clean aftertreatment systems. He supervised more than 120 masters, Ph.D. and post-doctoral students; published more than 330 articles in leading journals; holds multiple patents and has consulted for the energy, aerospace, and automotive industries. He authored a book on fundamentals and innovations in energy conversion engineering. He is a Fellow of the ASME, the APS, and The Combustion Institute, and an associate fellow of the AIAA. He received several awards including the ASME James Harry Potter Award in Thermodynamics, the AIAA Propellant and Combustion Award, the KAUST Investigator Award and the “Committed to Caring Professor” at MIT.
Please join The Combustion Institute in congratulating Prof. Ghoniem and the other award winners honored at the 40th International Symposium. Questions regarding awards may be directed to office@combustioninstitute.org.