People

Gerard F. "Jerry" Jones, Ph.D.

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Email: gerard.jones@villanova.edu

Dr. Jones received his BSME in 1972 from Villanova University.  After working as a project engineer for Mobil Oil Corporation in Paulsboro, New Jersey for more than two years, he studied at University of Pennsylvania where received his MSME and PhD degrees in 1975 and 1981, respectively. While there, in addition to master’s and PhD research, he designed and helped build the liquid-cooled solar heating system for the University's SolaRow house on Spruce Street in Philadelphia which, until very recently, was producing solar heat and hot water for the building and was a functioning laboratory for students.

After graduation, he was a staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico until 1987.  His research activities included experiments on double-diffusive convection in salt-gradient solar ponds, transient natural convection in single-phase thermosyphons, and experiments and numerical analysis for turbulent natural convection in buildings among many others. He supervised the construction and designed the instrumentation for a 230 square meter salt-gradient solar pond; monitoring and reporting the thermal performance for almost two years.  He initiated the effort at LANL for analytical and numerical modeling of inter-zonal natural convection in buildings and performed advanced modeling of heat transfer and hydrodynamics in hot-dry-rock geothermal reservoirs and modeling heat transfer in cold-plates for cooling of electronic components. Dr. Jones consulted with LANL on a wide array of technical topics from 1990 until 2006.

Dr. Jones joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Villanova University in Fall, 1987 where he is currently professor.  In 2008, after serving as department chairman for six years, he became Associate Dean for Academic Affairs where, among other strategic tasks, he was responsible for day-to-day running of the undergraduate engineering program. In 2012, he was appointed Sr. Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, running both the graduate programs and research enterprise at the college level. He stepped down as Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research for the College of Engineering in 2021 after serving in this capacity for 10 years.

His undergraduate teaching has included numerous courses in heat transfer, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, analysis and design, and labs.  His graduate courses include heat conduction and radiation, convection, computational fluid mechanics, advanced fluid mechanics, and solar thermal analysis.

His research interests include heat transfer in composite materials, high-performance heat exchangers and cold plates for electronic cooling, and thermal management for power production and distribution systems such as fuel cells and data centers. His most recent research includes optimization of multiscale thermal structures through the lens of Constructal theory. His mantra is sound knowledge of fundamentals, insight through patience and experience, and appropriate modeling.

Dr. Jones is a Life Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and past president and secretary of the Villanova Chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society. He was faculty advisor to the ASME Student Section from 1996-2002 and was voted the 2002 ASME Student Section Advisor Award for the Mid-Atlantic Region of ASME (43 schools).  He has served on the ASME K-20 Committee on Computational Heat Transfer since 1998 and sponsored many technical sessions at ASME conferences. He was active in the Philadelphia Section of ASME and served the section as chairman in 2001-2002.  Starting in 2005, he turned attention to the Committee on Science and the Arts of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia which selects annual Franklin Medal award laureates.  At Villanova, he has chaired several prominent committees including the College of Engineering Research Committee, the College of Engineering Mathematics Competency Committee, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering Laboratory and Curriculum Committees.  He is an Assoc. ed. of the ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, a member of Phi Kappa Phi, and a reviewer for the ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, The International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Cryogenics, and several other journals and conferences. He has taught several short courses including review courses for the FEE examination in thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid mechanics, and heat transfer for General Electric Advanced Course at the former General Electric facility in Moorestown, NJ. He has served as principal advisor for nearly 20 Masters and PhD candidates, served on more than 70 MS and PhD thesis committees, and has published more than 120 archival journal and conference proceedings publications. His book, Gravity-Driven Water Flow in Networks: Theory and Design (Wiley, 2010) is an outgrowth of student-focused, service-learning efforts in Central America begun in 2004 with colleagues in the ME Department at Villanova. He has traveled extensively with students on many international trips, engaging and empowering dozens of students in leadership positions and positively impacting developing communities in many parts of the world.

Dr. Jones is a married, father of two adults. His hobbies include collecting and repairing antique mechanical clocks, maintaining a 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera, fine wine, and enjoying a variety of music.