Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington                               October 23, 2002
(Phone: 202/358-1726)

RELEASE: 02-205

NASA ANNOUNCES MICROGRAVITY COMBUSTION SCIENCE RESEARCH GRANTS 

     NASA selected 22 researchers to receive grants totaling 
approximately $8.6 million to conduct microgravity combustion ground-
based research. Nine grants are to continue research currently funded 
by NASA and 13 represent new research. 

The research offers investigators the opportunity to take advantage of 
a low-gravity environment to improve understanding of fundamental 
physical and chemical processes associated with combustion. NASA's 
Office of Biological and Physical Research sponsors the research.
 
Investigators will have NASA's microgravity research facilities, such 
as drop-tubes, drop-towers and aircraft flying parabolic trajectories, 
at their disposal. NASA received 90 proposals in response to its 
research announcement. All proposals were peer-reviewed by scientific 
and technical experts from academia, government and industry. 

The awardees are:

California
Dr. Ian Shepherd
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Berkeley, Calif. 
"A Numerical Investigation of Buoyancy-Induced Pressure Effects in 
Premixed Flames"

Dr. Linda Blevins
Sandia National Laboratories
Livermore, Calif.
"Carbon Monoxide and Soot in Microgravity Inverse Combustion"

Professor Paul Ronney
University of Southern California
Los Angeles
"Thermal Transpiration Based Microscale Propulsion and Power Generation 
Devices"

Professor Fokion N. Egolfopoulos
University of Southern California
Los Angeles
"Quantiative Studies on the Propagation and Extinction of Near-Limit 
Premixed Flames Under Normal- and Micro-Gravity"

Professor Derek Dunn-Rankin
University of California/Irvine
Irvine, Calif.
"Applications of of Electric Fields in Microgravity Combustion Science"

Colorado
Professor Angel Abbud-Madrid
Colorado School of Mines
Golden, Colo.
"Fundamental Evaluation of Water Mist for Fire Safety in Spacecraft & 
Extraterrestrial Environments"

Connecticut
Professor Marshall Long
Yale University
New Haven, Conn.
"Fuel Dilution Studies of Coflow Laminar Diffusion Flames in a 
Microgravity Environment"

Illinois
Professor Ishwar Puri
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago
"Gravitational Effects on Partially Premixed Flames"

Professor Bernard Matkowsky
Northwestern University
Evanston, Ill.
"Filtration Combustion for Microgravity Applications: (1) Smoldering 
and Fire Safety, (2) Combustion Synthesis of Advanced Materials"

Indiana
Professor Arvind Varma
University of Notre Dame
South Bend, Ind.
"Ignition and Combustion of Single Complex Metal Particles Under 
Reduced Gravity Conditions"

Professor Sivakumar Santhanakrishnan
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Ind.
"Oxygen and Fuel Jet Diffusion Flame Studies in Microgravity Motivated 
by Spacecraft Oxygen Storage Fire Safety"

Maryland
Dr. Anthony Hamins
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, Md.
"The Structure and Extinction of Low Strain Rate Non-Premixed Flames By 
an Agent in Microgravity"

Michigan
Professor Arvind Atreya
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Mich.
"Extinction of Gaseous Microgravity Diffusion Flames in Various 
Atmospheres"

Professor Gerard Faeth
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Mich.
"Chemically Passive Suppression of Premixed Flames in Spacecraft 
Environments at Microgravity"

New Jersey
Professor Chung Law
Princeton University
Princeton, N.J.
"Aerodynamics and Chemical Kinetics of Premixed Flames at High 
Pressures"

Ohio
Dr. Daniel Dietrich
NASA Glenn Research Center
Cleveland
"Diffusion Flame Suppression in Microgravity using Spray Agents"

Michael Hicks
NASA Glenn Research Center
Cleveland
"Low Re Number Droplet Combustion in CO2 Enriched Atmospheres in 
Microgravity"

Dr. Peter Sunderland
National Center for Microgravity Research
Cleveland
"Investigation of velocity and Temperature in Microgravity Laminar Jet 
Diffusion Flames"

Dr. Randy Vander Wal
National Center for Microgravity Research
Cleveland
"Quantification of Fire Signatures for Practical Spacecraft Materials"

Professor Chih-Jen Sung
Case-Western Reserve University
Cleveland
"Catalyzed Combustion in Micro-Propulsion Devices"

Pennsylvania
Professor David Miller
Drexel University
Philadelphia
"High Pressure Cool Flames and Auto-Ignition at Microgravity"

Texas
Professor Ofodike Ezekoye
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas
"Resonant Acoustic Control of Turbulent Diffusion Flames for Pollutant 
Reduction"

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