Jacobi chosen to head MechSE department

Anthony M. Jacobi has been chosen to head the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering (MechSE). His appointment is effective August 16, 2015, pending approval of the University’s Board of Trustees.

“I am very pleased that Professor Jacobi has accepted our offer to head the MechSE department,” said Andreas Cangellaris, dean of the College of Engineering. “As an Illinois faculty member since 1992, he understands what it means to be a top-ranked program, and he has articulated a compelling vision for MechSE’s path forward.”

Dean Cangellaris also expressed his appreciation for Placid Ferreira, who has served as MechSE’s department since August 2009.

“In addition to being a strong leader and visionary for the department, Professor Ferreira was a co-author of the successful proposal for the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute in Chicago, and he continues to serve as one its key technical leaders,” Cangellaris added. “We continue to benefit from his leadership on our campus and beyond.”

As the Richard W. Kritzer Distinguished Professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Jacobi’s research interests include heat transfer and fluid mechanics with end-use energy applications. Since 2001, he has served as co-director at the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Center, overseeing a multidisciplinary research program involving more than a dozen faculty members, 60 graduate and undergraduate students, post-doctoral and visiting scholars, and companies from around the world. The ACRC is the largest center in the nation devoted to research in heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration; its research program is supported by approximately 30 industrial sponsors.

Within the MechSE department, Jacobi served as its associate head of graduate programs (2008-2011), and is currently managing those responsibilities in an interim capacity. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (2009) and a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (2011). He has also been honored with numerous faculty teaching and research awards within the College and his department.

He has served in an editorial capacity for the International Journal HVAC&R Research, the ASME Journal of Energy Resources Technology, the International Journal of Energy Research, the ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, Thermal Science and Engineering Applications, and he continues on the editorial advisory board for the International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration.