Dr. Eric Petersen has been appointed as the Nelson-Jackson Chair in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Petersen also serves as director of the Turbomachinery Laboratory.
His research interests include gas dynamics, propulsion, combustion, shock waves, chemical kinetics, optical diagnostics and spectroscopy, laminar and turbulent flames, and rocket combustion.
Petersen was named director of the Turbomachinery Laboratory in 2018 after serving 10 years as a member with nearly 30 years of experience in the gas turbine and propulsion industry.
He has authored more then 400 journal and conference papers and serves as vice president of the Institute for Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems and an associate editor of the Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, and the Journal of Propulsion and Power.
Additionally, Petersen is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, The Combustion Institute and the American Society for Engineering Education.
The Nelson-Jackson Professorship was established in 1992 in honor of Edwin Nelson and Charles Jackson, and was elevated to a chair this year. It is awarded to a nationally prominent professor whose principal research activity is related to turbomachinery, and has helped in elevating the stature of the Turbomachinery Laboratory.
Jackson and Nelson received their bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M in 1950 and 1951, respectively. They were both charter inductees in the Texas A&M Mechanical Engineering Academy of Distinguished Graduates and received the Texas A&M College of Engineering Alumnus Honor Awards for their work.