MAE Graduate Student Receives Martin Summerfield Graduate Award

Sadegh Dabiri, a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was recently awarded the prestigious American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Martin Summerfield Graduate Award for Studies in Propellants and Combustion.  Dabiri will be recognized during the Awards Luncheon at the 44th AIAA/American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)/ Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)/American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, July 21-23, 2008, in Hartford, Conn.

The Martin Summerfield Graduate Award for Studies in Propellants and Combustion, a $5,000 award funded through individual memorial gifts and the AIAA Foundation, is given to students who actively participate in research endeavors in propellants and combustion as part of their graduate studies.

Dabiri, who studies under the advisement of William Sirignano, Ph.D., the Henry Samueli Endowed Chair in Engineering and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, is currently investigating the effects of cavitation – a phase change in liquids caused by pressure reduction – on high-pressure liquid atomization. This phenomenon is favorable to improving the characteristics of the spray generated by liquid injectors. Liquid atomizers have many applications, including fuel injectors from diesel to liquid propellant rocket engines.

He received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering, with an emphasis in robotics and control, from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran in 2003. After finishing his M.S. degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC Irvine in 2005, he is continuing his studies toward a Ph.D. degree in the Combustion, Fluid Dynamics and Propulsion Laboratory.

Dabiri is the recipient of several awards, including the gold medal at the 30th International Physics Olympiad in 1999, and both the first place and technical innovation awards for the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence-2002 robot competition and exhibition as a member of the Hanif Rescue-Robot team.