LSU Names Sumanta Acharya a 2010 Distinguished Research Master
Source: LSU Highlights 2010
Sumanta Acharya, a professor with CCT and Department of Mechanical Engineering, was recognized as LSU’s Distinguished Research Master of Engineering, Science and Technology on Tuesday, May 11, at 2 p.m. at the Faculty Club. Professor Nina Lam also was honored as the Distinguished Research Master of Arts, Humanities and Social Science. Raluca Cozma and Jasson Vindas also were recognized as recipients of the annual Distinguished Dissertation Awards at this ceremony.
The distinguished research master honor, administered through LSU's Office of Research & Economic Development, has been presented annually since 1972 by the University Council on Research to acknowledge faculty who have made remarkable contributions through research and teaching.
SUMANTA ACHARYA
Acharya, a graduate of the University of Minnesota, holds the L. R. Daniel professorship and the Fritz and Francis M. Blumer professorship in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is the founding director of the Center for Turbine Innovation and Energy Research, or TIER, which focuses on energy generation and propulsion research.
During his 27-year career at LSU, Acharya has developed multifaceted, continuously funded, nationally and internationally recognized research programs covering the areas of heat transfer, combustion, fluid mechanics and scientific computation. His diverse scholarly contributions include nearly 150 refereed journal articles, most of which appear in top-tier journals of his field, where he is recognized as a leader. He has also presented extensively in national and international conferences with more than 200 refereed papers.
In support of this recognition for Acharya, Richard Goldstein, member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Royal Academy of Engineering, said, “As one who has worked for many years in the film cooling area, I can truly state that he [Acharya] is probably the leading expert on numerical prediction of film cooling heat transfer, primarily through his own advances and contributions.”
Acharya’s research sponsorship portfolio, nearing $25 million dollars during his LSU career, reads as the “who’s who” of federal funding agencies and includes major efforts in the area of gas turbines (with sponsorship from several major gas-turbine companies) and computational fluid dynamics (including the highly prestigious NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship, or IGERT, grant that he leads).
“Dr. Acharya is a gifted researcher, and through his work with the IGERT program, he has helped inspire students from different disciplines to develop new ways of working together, creating original, collaborative research projects,” said Stephen David Beck, CCT Interim Director. “We congratulate him on the successful work that led to this well-deserved honor.”
He also has developed the necessary infrastructure and has successfully transitioned his research to impact gas-turbine industry internationally.
“Addressing problems relevant to industry is very important in engineering research and has high potential impact on economic development,” said Interim Department Chair Dimitris Nikitopoulos. “His accomplishments in this area are indicative of Professor Acharya’s abilities beyond the academic norm, which he has amply exceeded.”
Pats on the Back:
• Professor Thomas Sterling was invited to attend the annual Conference on High Speed Computing April 21-25 in Oregon. The theme of this year’s meeting was Data Intensive Computing. This is the longest-running conference series in the field of supercomputing. This Department of Energy-sponsored meeting is by invitation only, and a limited number of guests are invited to participate.
• Jay Park, CCT and LSU Department of Computer Science, received official confirmation that his tenure and promotion have been approved.
• Sundaraj Iyengar and Tevfik Kosar have received a Louisiana Board of Regents Graduate Fellows award titled "Recruitment of Superior Graduate Fellows in Computer Science." The award is $100,000 for five years.
Please Note:
• Prior approval is required for Special Meal Requests. Employees who make meal purchases without prior approvals may find that they must cover the cost of any monies spent for an unapproved event out of pocket, especially now that state funds are under a spending freeze. Please contact Susie Poskonka (susie@cct.lsu.edu) prior to any special meal with visitor(s) to file the appropriate request for approval. Prior approval could take up to one week, so please plan accordingly.
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• This summer, CCT and the LONI Institute will host a Computational Science Workshop for Louisiana Educators on campus July 19-23 to introduce Louisiana high school teachers to computational science tools and techniques, giving them ideas for incorporating this into their lesson plans and curricula. Attendees will leave with at least one lesson plan and homework assignment that include new computational science concepts and activities. Louisiana high school teachers who participate in this workshop will receive a $500 stipend. If you work with any high schools or know teachers who would like to participate, please ask them to visit the workshop Web site at http://www.cct.lsu.edu/LAeducators to register or receive more information. For questions about the workshop curriculum, please contact Bety Rodriguez at brodrig@cct.lsu.edu or 225-578-8990. For all other questions, contact Karen Jones at kjones@cct.lsu.edu or 225-578-0595.
• Early bird Registration and housing is now available for SIGGRAPH 2010, the premier conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques. Register now for five days of education, exploration, and inspiration at SIGGRAPH 2010 in Los Angeles, July 25-29 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Early registration discounts are available through June 4, 2010.
• Supercomputing Conference 2010 Information and Deadlines:
o SC10 is seeking submissions for posters and ACM student posters that display cutting-edge, interesting research in high-end computing, storage, networking and analytics. Posters provide an excellent opportunity for short presentations and informal discussions with conference attendees. Posters will be prominently displayed for the duration of the conference, giving presenters a chance to showcase their latest results and innovations. One poster will be honored with a Best Poster Award. A limited number of active displays will be part of the poster session. Students who are ACM members also are encouraged to submit posters as part of the ACM Student Research Competition (SRC), with awards and special recognition at SC10 plus the chance to compete in the SRC grand finals. Submissions are due July 15, 2010. For questions, contact: posters@info.supercomputing.org, or visit the submission site, http://submissions.supercomputing.org.
o The SC10 Doctoral Research Showcase invites Ph.D. students in high-performance computing, networking, storage, analytics, and visualization who anticipate graduating within a year to submit a short summary of their research for consideration toward the conference program. Those selected will have an opportunity to present a 15-minute summary of their research to experts from academia, industry and research laboratories. Students should submit a single page summary of their doctoral research, along with a publications list and three slides on their key findings and results for consideration by Monday, July 26. For more information, please contact doc-showcase@info.supercomputing.org, or visit the Web site, http://sc10.supercomputing.org/?pg=doctsc.html.
o The SC10 Education Program is now accepting applications for travel support to attend the conference, which will take place Nov. 13-19 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The program is open to undergraduate faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, and high school teachers interested in learning how to use supercomputing and computational science in their classrooms. Participants are encouraged to stay through the entire conference, where they will be engaged in hands-on activities to encourage them to apply computational science, grid computing and high-performance computing resources in education. The deadline to apply for the SC10 Education Program event is July 31. For more information, please visit http://sc10.supercomputing.org/?pg=edprog.html or e-mail education@info.supercomputing.org
o Applications for Student Volunteers for SC10 are now being accepted. The deadline to apply is Sunday, Aug. 27. Undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to apply as volunteers to help with the administration of the conference. In exchange, students will receive complimentary conference registration, housing (for out-of-town volunteers) and some meals. Volunteers will be expected to be available for a total of 4-5 hours of work per day during the week of the conference, which will take place Nov. 13-19 in New Orleans. Successful applicants will be notified of their acceptance by Sept. 30. If you have any questions please e-mail student-vols@info.supercomputing.org.
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Publish Date:
05-18-2010
