Torrie and Darwin are part of an ongoing collaboration between the CRF and students from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Brian Fisher worked as a post-doctoral research fellow in the Alternative Fuels Optical Engine Laboratory with Chuck Mueller. Their work focused on gaining an improved understanding of how fuel, injection-system, and in-cylinder thermodynamic properties affect the maximum distance that liquid-phase fuel penetrates into the combustion chamber of a heavy-duty, direct-injection, diesel-cycle engine. Brian is leaving Sandia to join the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa as an assistant professor.
Sebastian, the principle investigator in Sandia’s Hydrogen Engine lab, took a distinguished German academic position last year. He has returned to complete the hydrogen research project. He is also involved with the Engine Combustion Network, an international effort initiated by Lyle Pickett to advance engine research through cooperative experiments and simulations. Sebastian is building up a new engine lab at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
Peter Lillo finished his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at U.C. Berkeley and joined Sandia as a student intern. Peter worked with Chuck Mueller, Chris Polonowski, and Brian Fisher last summer to study the behavior of flame lift-off length in diesel engines. Since January, he has conducted research with Lyle Pickett on locating the position of diesel ignition as a function of ambient gas temperature. His work supports activities of the Engine Combustion Network (www.sandia.gov/ECN) for the “Spray A” condition. Peter will continue engine research studies this fall at the University of Michigan, beginning a PhD program advised by Prof. Volker Sick.
