Dr. Elaine Oran has joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University as a TEES Eminent Professor. Oran is a physical scientist and is considered a world authority on numerical methods for large-scale simulation of physical systems.
Oran pioneered computational technology for the solution of complex reactive flow problems, unifying concepts from science, mathematics, engineering and computer science in a new methodology. Her techniques for numerical simulation of fluid flows have brought better understanding to a diverse range of phenomena, from the tightly-grouped movements of fish in the Earth’s oceans to the explosions of far-flung supernovae in space. Her work has contributed significantly to the advancement of the engineering profession.
Oran’s research interests include work on chemically reactive flows, turbulence, numerical analysis, high-performance computing and parallel architectures, shocks and shock interactions, rarefied gases, and microfluidics, with applications to combustion, propulsion, astrophysical explosions and micro-sensor design. She is the author of over 300 refereed journal articles and many conference papers and presentations, as well as co-author of the book “Numerical Simulation of Reactive Flow” (2nd edition, Cambridge Press, 2001).
Oran received her bachelor’s degrees in physics and chemistry from Bryn Mawr College, and her master’s degree in physics and doctoral degree in engineering and applied sciences from Yale University. She is a fellow and an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a fellow of the Combustion Institute, the American Physical Society, and the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Among many awards given to Oran are the Fluid Dynamics Prize from the American Physical Society in 2013, the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Senior Professionals from the United States government in 2007, the Zel’dovich Gold Medal of the Combustion Institute in 2000, and the Dryden Lectureship in Research from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2002.