Westmoreland has been named a Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor at Imperial College of Science and Technology

Professor Phillip R. Westmoreland of North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA, has been named a Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor at Imperial College of Science and Technology in London.

This highly competitive award is made to UK institutions that wish to invite an eminent researcher from overseas to enhance the knowledge and skills of academic staff or the student body within the host institution. The over-riding criteria for selection are first the academic standing and achievements of the visitor in terms of research and teaching, and secondly the ability of the receiving institution to benefit from the imported skills and expertise.

The emphasis of Prof. Westmoreland will be his collaboration with Prof. R. Peter Lindstedt and other faculty members at Imperial College, seeking to quantify fundamental reaction kinetics for pyrolysis and combustion. These elementary reactions are important to intellectual understanding of gas kinetics and are practically important for the goal of producing clean, efficient energy.

Professor Westmoreland’s distinctive approach combines data analytics for reaction networks in reactive-flow processes with molecular visualization, computational quantum chemistry, and statistical mechanics as foundational tools for predicting and understanding individual reaction rates.

These “chemical principles of engineering” are being applied to describe properties of matter and the physical and chemical interactions that occur between its constituents. Their need cuts across the range of engineering disciplines and applications. Professor Westmoreland has developed a pedagogical format and course materials that provide broad applicability, deep insights, and specific skills for predicting these properties. The approach will be disseminated through the direct collaborations, two Leverhulme Lectures, and seminars at Imperial and other UK institutions.

Professor Westmoreland is a resident of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA, and a native of Statesville, North Carolina.

The Leverhulme Trust was established by the Will of William Hesketh Lever, the founder of Lever Brothers. Since 1925 the Trust has provided grants and scholarships for research and education. Today, it is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the United Kingdom, distributing approximately £80m a year. For more information about the Trust, please visit www.leverhulme.ac.uk.

For additional information, please contact:

Prof. Phillip R. Westmoreland, prwestmo@ncsu.edu

Prof. R. Peter Lindstedt, p.lindstedt@imperial.ac.uk

Andreas Heiner, grants@leverhulme.ac.uk