Dr. Je-Chin Han, Distinguished Professor and holder of the Marcus C. Easterling Chair in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named the winner of the 2016 Aircraft Engine Technology Award.
The award, which is presented by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), recognizes sustained personal creative contributions to aircraft gas turbine engine technology.
Han was honored for outstanding contributions to the field of air breathing propulsion through inspiring leadership, education and research, having major impacts on operations capability, performance and design.
Han received the award during the ASME International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI) — ASME Turbo Expo, which was held in Seoul, South Korea on June 13-17.
During the expo, Han also delivered the 2016 Aircraft Engine Technology Award Lecture, “Turbine Blade Cooling Research at Texas A&M 1980-2016.”
Han joined the mechanical engineering faculty at Texas A&M in 1980 as an assistant professor. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from National Taiwan University in 1970.
He earned his Master of Science in 1973 from Lehigh University and his Sc.D from MIT in 1976, both in mechanical engineering.
Han has been working on turbine blade cooling, film cooling and rotating coolant-passage heat transfer research for the past 40 years and he has co-authored 220 journal papers.
He is the lead author on the book Gas Turbine Heat Transfer and Cooling Technology and he has served as editor, associate editor and honorary board member for eight heat transfer related journals.
Additionally, Han served as ASME K-14 Gas Turbine Heat Transfer committee chair from 2004-2006 and ASME K-3 Heat Transfer Honors and Awards committee chair from 2005-2006.
Han received the 2002 ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award, the 2004 International Rotating Machinery Award and the 2004 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Thermophysics Award. He is a Fellow of ASME and AIAA.