Wei Shyy

Professor Wei SHYY (Chinese: 史 維) joined Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as Provost and Chair Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in August 2010.

Biography

Professor Wei Shyy is the Executive Vice-President and Provost of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He is concurrently Chair Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Prior to joining HKUST in August 2010, he was Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson Collegiate Professor and Chairman of the Department of Aerospace Engineering of the University of Michigan. He was previously employed by the University of Florida and GE Research and Development Center in Schenectady, New York. He earned his BS degree from Tsing-Hua University, Taiwan, and his MSE and PhD degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

He is the author or a co-author of five books and numerous journal and conference articles dealing with computational and modeling techniques involving fluid flow, biological and low Reynolds number aerodynamics, combustion and propulsion, and a broad range of topics related to aerial and space flight vehicles. He is General Editor of the Cambridge Aerospace Book Series published by the Cambridge University Press, Co-Editor-in Chief of Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, a major reference work published by Wiley-Blackwell. He also serves as editor and member of editorial board of numerous peer reviewed journals.

Prof. Shyy is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME). He has received awards for his research and professional contributions, including the AIAA 2003 Pendray Aerospace Literature Award, the ASME 2005 Heat Transfer Memorial Award, and The Engineers’ Council (Sherman Oaks, CA) 2009 Distinguished Educator Award. He has also served as a consultant and on a number of national and international committees to support and review numerous private and public organizations as well as higher educational institutes. His professional views have been quoted in various news media, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, the USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor, and the US News & World Report. Prof. Shyy has supervised more than 45 PhD students and mentored many postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars.

As an academic leader, Prof. Shyy has consistently advocated broadening the educational scope and approach, advancing research and knowledge transfer to help address global challenges. He is committed to promoting university’s societal engagement and independent, entrepreneurial spirit. He has also led efforts in fostering diverse and inclusive campus cultures to better reflect and support the university’s overall mission.

Highlights of Research & Engineering Activities

Prof. Shyy’s research is centered on computational modeling techniques, which include continuum and lattice Boltzmann formulations. He has made substantial contributions to the formulations of the techniques needed for treating complex geometry, coupled multi-physics, moving and deformable boundaries, and fluid-fluid/fluid-structure interactions. A key feature is that his interest encompasses fundamental and application, including (i) development of original and novel numerical and modeling techniques for multidisciplinary problems related to thermo-fluid dynamics; (ii) computational and modeling techniques typically developed to a point that they have a comprehensive capability to tackle original physical issues; (iii) consistent emphasis on close collaboration between theory/computation and experiment; (iv) extension of scientific research to address engineering issues arising from optimization, assessment and design tool development. Overall, he has made substantial contributions to air and space flight vehicle research and development, fluid machinery design optimization, and computational methods for complex unsteady flows. To name but a few, he

• demonstrated, by combined computational modeling and experiment, and in collaboration with students and colleagues, the importance of membrane wings and flexible structures for low-Reynolds-number flight; also offered new insight into issues such as tip vortices, downwash, and kinematics associated with flapping wing vehicles.
• developed, with the collaborators, and working jointly with NASA Marshall and Boeing-Rocketdyne, a multidisciplinary approach (combining numerical simulations, surrogate models, and optimization techniques) to improve the efficiency and design of turbines for reusable launch vehicles (RLVs), including supersonic turbines for NASA’s second generation RLVs and Moon/Mars endeavors.
• developed the CONCERT computer code, the first 3D numerical model used by GE Aircraft Engines in the 1990s for gas turbine combustor flow analysis.
• pioneered development of three-dimensional Navier-Stokes-based computer tools for hydraulic turbine flow analyses, including distributors, runners and draft tubes. Supervised Ph.D. studies and developed original cavitation models needed for, e.g., liquid rocket engines, hydraulic turbines and underwater propulsion.
• analyzed hydrocarbon emissions in spark-ignition engines which impacted IC engine design and changed the standard picture of when, where, and how the emissions occur. While previous wisdom contended that these occurred in the quench layer, he proved that these occur in crevices and oil layers, which was a completely new idea, and was confirmed experimentally.
• contributed, in collaboration with colleagues of Pratt & Whitney and Dresser-Rand, to turbomachinery heat transfer, including those related to leading edge film cooling, cavity heat transfer, supersonic nozzle heat transfer, and modern seal operation.
• investigated high temperature (about 6,000 K) heat transfer for high pressure discharge lamp, based on a model accounting for combined radiation, convection and conduction in equilibrium plasma and neutral fluids. The research has contributed to product design of GE and other industrial entities.
• conducted extensive research in solidification processing, materials manufacturing, and crystal growth, at both macroscopic and microscopic (morphological) levels in the areas of materials sciences. Spanning the scales from surface tension, conduction to convection and overall crystal sizes, his research has elucidated the rich and complex thermal physics associated with various processing techniques (including continuous casting, Bridgman, float zone, electron beam melting, plasma coating).
• contributed to issues in biomechanics including deformation and recovery of cellular (leukocyte) dynamics through capillary scale geometries, cell-receptor dynamics associated with cell adhesion and movement, liquid plug propagation in airways, and fluid flow through stenosed artery and bypass graft in an anastomosis.
• analyzed, with collaborators of GE Aerospace (later became part of Lockheed-Martin) capillary-pumped loop thermal management for spacecraft, and conducted original research on fluid physics, materials processing, and multiphase fluid dynamics for micro-gravity space environments.

As part of his professional activities, in 2002, he led a group to establish the Institute for Future Space Transport, a seven-university consortium funded by NASA, under the University Research, Engineering and Technology Institutes program (now called the Constellation University Institutes Program, CUIP). In 2006, he served as the principal investigator to lead the establishment of the Michigan/AFRL/Boeing Collaborative Center in Aeronautical Sciences (MAB-CCAS), a five-year endeavor sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory. In 2007, he was the principal investigator of a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) project, sponsored by DoD, on Biologically-Inspired, Anisotropic Flexible Wing for Optimal Flapping Flight. The foundations of Alcoa, Ford, and TRW selected him as a recipient for their unrestricted research grants, with no string attached and no deliverables required.

Professional Services

Prof. Shyy has served in various capacities as an academic administrator, editor, and consultant. While he was Chair of Department of Aerospace Engineering, Mechanics & Engineering Science, University of Florida, he played an instrumental role in the merger of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Mechanics & Engineering Science in 2002. At the recommendation of the faculty of both departments, he served as Chair of the newly formed Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, the largest department within the College of Engineering. He worked with colleagues to develop synergy and unify the personnel, academic and research programs, budget and space allocation structures during the transition period. He served in a number of administrative positions afterwards, including Chair of the Department of Aerospace Engineering of the University of Michigan and as Provost of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. In these leadership positions, he has consistently advocated broadening the educational scope, promoting outside classroom learning experiences, advancing interdisciplinary approaches, fostering faculty-student interactions and mentorship, and encouraging collaboration between university and non-academic organizations. He has also strongly encouraged and facilitated a diverse and inclusive campus climate to better reflect the characteristics of modern society and support the university’s educational mission. He was directly or indirectly responsible for recruiting a number of faculty colleagues in each of the universities he served, among them a substantial number from underrepresented groups in society.

He served as co-Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering along with Richard Blockley. The Encyclopedia, which was the culmination of a nine-volume project that officially started in 2007, was published in 2010 by Wiley-Blackwell. It has become the first major reference work in the field. Since 2000, he has been General Editor of the Cambridge Aerospace Book Series published by the Cambridge University Press. On numerous occasions, he served as a board member, consultant, and reviewer for private, governmental and academic institutions, including GE’s Aircraft Engines/Power/Lighting groups and Research Center, Pratt & Whitney, Ford, NASA, OSRAM Sylvania.

Awards & Honors

• Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) & American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
• General Electric Research and Development Center: Publications Award (1986)
• Chinese Society of Mechanical Engineers (Taiwan): Research Paper Award (1987)
• AIAA: Service Citation (1993)
• NASA Kennedy Space Center: Certificate of Appreciation (1999) & Productivity Award (1999)
• AIAA Pendray Aerospace Literature Award (2003) with the citation “For significant contributions to research and publications in computation and modeling techniques for a broad range of aerospace applications.”
• ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award (2005), with the citation “"For outstanding and archival contributions to the thermal sciences in a number of areas including modeling of phase-change and moving boundary heat transfer problems, convective flows in complicated domain, air-breathing and rocket combustion, materials thermal processing, and turbo-machinery flows."
• Distinguished Alumnus Award, Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing-Hua University (2009).
• The Engineers’ Council (Sherman Oaks, CA): 2009 Distinguished Educator Award, with the citation “In Recognition of Outstanding Contributions to the Engineering Profession as a Teacher, Researcher, Mentor to Students and Staff, and Leader in Working Together with Industry.”
• Distinguished Alumnus Award, National Tsing-Hua University (2013)

External Links

• Biography of Wei Shyy from HKUST website