Dr. Isaac Ekoto is the principal investigator for Advanced SI Combustion. Ekoto has actively researched in-cylinder flow, mixing, and combustion processes in both light-duty gasoline and diesel engines since 2007. He currently manages two advanced gasoline combustion research engine labs that separately investigate the role of advanced ignition systems and retained residuals to improve engine efficiency and emissions. He has also served as a principal investigator for the Hydrogen Safety Codes and Standards program, and was instrumental in the development of the Hydrogen Risk Assessment Model (HyRAM); a novel toolkit that integrates conventional risk models with physical behavior models for various potential hydrogen release and ignition scenarios to generate unique risk profiles of hydrogen refueling infrastructure. His main expertise is in fluid mechanics and advanced optical diagnostics, but he also is interested in combustion chemistry, plasma physics, and thermodynamic systems analysis.
Ekoto is the principal investigator of the Advanced SI Combustion labs in the Engines Department at Sandia National Laboratories. He is a past recipient of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Myers and Powertrain, Fuels and Lubricants Best Paper awards. He received his Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Fayetteville State University and his Doctor of Philosophy in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University.