Gad-el-Hak named a Freeman scholar

Author: Dan Toolan

Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at the University of Notre Dame, has been named the 14th Freeman scholar by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.p. The prize is the highest honor bestowed by the division of fluids engineering within ASME and is awarded biennially. Gad-el-Hak will deliver the keynote Freeman lecture at the annual meeting of ASME in 1998.p. “The University is delighted at this recognition of the scholarly achievements of Professor Gad-el-Hak. We salute his accomplishments and this fitting recognition,” said Nathan Hatch, the University’s provost.p. Gad-el-Hak has advanced several tools for measuring turbulent flows of fluids, including the laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) technique. LIF, used to create a picture of fluid flow, is a technique used widely around the world. He also introduced the concept of targeted control to reduce drag, enhance lift , and augment mixing in boundary layer flows. He holds two patents: one for a drag-reducing method for airplane and underwater vehicles, and the other for a lift-control device.p. Gad-el-Hak joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1986, leaving Flow Research Co. in Seattle, where he was senior research scientist and program manager. He received his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Ain Shams University in Egypt and his doctorate in fluid mechanics from Johns Hopkins University. He since has taught and conducted research at the University of Southern California, the University of Virginia, Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble and Universite de Poitiers.p. Gad-el-Hak is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a life member of the American Physical Society, an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a research fellow of the American Biographical Institute. He recently has been inducted as an eminent engineer in Tau Beta Pi. He also is an honorary member of Sigma Gamma Tau and Pi Tau Sigma and a member-at-large of Sigma Xi.p. Serving as a consultant for Egypt, France, Germany, the United States, the United Nations, and numerous industrial organizations, Gad-el-Hak has been a member of several advisory panels for the Departments of Defense and Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation.p. He has published more than 260 articles and presented nearly 160 invited lectures in the basic and applied research areas of isotropic turbulence, boundary layer flows, stratified flows compliant coatings, unsteady aerodynamics, biological flows, non-Newtonian fluids, hard and soft computing including genetic algorithms, and flow control. He is the author of the book “Topics in Flow Control,” and the editor of three books, “Frontiers in Experimental Fluid Mechanics,” “Advances in Fluid Mechanics Measurements,” and “Flow Control: Fundamentals and Practices.” He also has served as associate editor for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal.p. Currently, Gad-el-Hak serves as associate editor for Applied Mechanics Reviews, as well as contributing editor for McGraw-Hill’s “Yearbook of Science and Technology,” for Springer-Verlag’s “Lecture Notes in Engineering” and “Lecture Notes in Physics,” and for CRC Press Inc.’s “Handbook of Fluid Dynamics.”

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