Dr. Alfonso Ortega Receives Harvey Rosten Award for Excellence 2011

Dr. Alfonso Ortega, the James R. Birle Professor of Energy Technology and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, and two of his former research assistants, Bryan Hassell MSME ‘09 and Hari Potluri MSME ‘13, were awarded the Harvey Rosten Award for Excellence 2011, among the most prestigious international awards for scholarly work within the field of thermal management in electronic systems.

“I’m so pleased to represent Villanova and the College’s Thermal and Fluid Sciences research group in receiving this award, particularly in light of our involvement with the launch of the new Industry/University Cooperative Research Center on Energy-Efficient Electronic Systems, sponsored by the National Science Foundation,” says Dr. Ortega, an internationally recognized expert in the area of electronics cooling. He has been contributing to the field for nearly 30 years.

Given in recognition of Dr. Ortega’s paper entitled “An Investigation of Multi-Layer Mini-Channel Heat Sinks with Channel Geometric Scale Variation Suggested by Constructal Scaling Principles,” the award celebrates work that advances thermal analysis or thermal modeling of electronics equipment that also offers an innovative approach to practical design applications. Works are considered for merit in five categories, which include context, relevance, physical insight, innovation, and pragmatics.

He accepted the award on March 20 in San Jose, Calif., at the International Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) 28th annual Semiconductor Thermal Management and Measurement Symposium (SEMI-THERM), where he also served as keynote speaker. He is also the recipient of the 2003 SEMI-THERM Thermi Award for lifetime contributions to the field.