Clarkson University Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Chair Brian T. Helenbrook
has been elected as a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
Of the 100,948 ASME members, only 3,521 have been elected a Fellow.
Helenbrook was named the chair of Clarkson’s Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Department in the Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering in July. He is also currently the Paynter-Krigman Professor in Engineering Science Simulation.
Helenbrook’s research interests are in the areas of computational fluid mechanics and multi-phase flows. Some of his current projects are designing ducted wind turbines, modeling the manufacturing of solar cell wafers, and aerodynamic optimization of luge sleds for the U.S. Olympic luge team. He also develops new numerical algorithms for high-order accurate simulations of fluid flows. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the areas of fluid mechanics, heat transfer, computational fluid dynamics, and finite element methods.
His research has been funded by such agencies as the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, as well as private companies. Currently, he has active grants from NASA, NSF, and from LC Drives, a New York state company developing liquid-cooled electric motors.
Helenbrook provides service to his profession as a member of the American Institute of Astronautics and Aeronautics and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics. He also provides service to the community as an advisor to Project Lead the Way at the Potsdam High School, and as a judge for the Potsdam Middle School Science fair and the US Robotics competition.
He holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of Notre Dame in mechanical engineering and a master’s and Ph.D. from Princeton University, also in mechanical engineering.