September 1, 2006 | Jessica Tommaselli

Wilson Chiu Receives ASME Bergles-Rohsenow Young Investigator Award

Dr. Wilson K.S. Chiu, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, was awarded the 2006 ASME Bergles- Rohsenow Young Investigator Award in Heat Transfer for “research in computational and experimental heat transfer, particularly chemical vapor deposition systems.” The award recognizes young engineers who are committed to pursuing research in heat transfer, with the potential to make significant […]

Wilson Chiu, professor of Mechanical Engineering, looks over a laser on an optical bench with a graduate student at a lab in Engineering II. Photo by Peter Morenus

Dr. Wilson K.S. Chiu, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, was awarded the 2006 ASME Bergles- Rohsenow Young Investigator Award in Heat Transfer for “research in computational and experimental heat transfer, particularly chemical vapor deposition systems.” The award recognizes young engineers who are committed to pursuing research in heat transfer, with the potential to make significant contributions to the field.

Dr. Chiu joined the University of Connecticut in 1999 after completing his Ph.D. at Rutgers University. During his seven years at UConn, he has established a reputation for excellence in heat transfer, mass transfer, and chemical reactions used for the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) synthesis and processing of nanostructured materials. In 2001, he was awarded a prestigious NSF Early Career Development (CAREER) Award and an Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award. In 2005, he received a three-year Army Research Office (ARO) Young Investigator Award for his work in the area of optimization of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) for field use by Army personnel. He has garnered more than $1.7 million in external funding from NSF, ONR, ARO and industry.

Dr. Chiu’s research into heat transfer in reactive flow systems holds important promise for applications involving chemical vapor deposition, such as manufacture of thin films and semiconductors, small-scale devices, photonics, fuel cells and photo-voltaics. In particular, his work has focused on reactive flow systems for photonics, fuel cells and semiconductor applications. His three-year ONR Young Investigator Award supports research into the development of optical fibers used in underwater acoustic arrays that can survive in the harsh conditions of the ocean environment. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center works with Dr. Chiu on this project. His NSF CAREER award supports his research into enhanced coatings for optical fibers that will be used primarily in telecommunications and sensing. He is co-inventor on U.S. patent filings for a laser-induced chemical vapor deposition coating method and for carbon nanotube synthesis using an open-air direct laser-writing method.

Dr. Chiu has published 33 journal papers and 57 conference articles and abstracts; and he has three U.S. patents pending. In addition to his federal honors, Dr. Chiu has received the Department of Mechanical Engineering Outstanding Faculty Award (2004), the School of Engineering Outstanding Junior Faculty Award (2002) and a U.S. Navy/ASEE Summer Faculty Research Fellowship (2001).

Established by the ASME Heat Transfer Division in 2003, with the first awards announced in 2004, the Bergles- Rohsenow Young Investigator Award was funded through the efforts of Arthur Bergles and Warren Rohsenow, who are well known for their accomplishments in heat transfer research and for their mentoring of young researchers.