Including calls for papers and nominations, CI awards, highlights of past events, and more

Incoming Board of Directors Members

Voting for the most recent election of the Board of Directors of The Combustion Institute concluded in July 2024. The following seven candidates were chosen to serve on the Board from 2024-2030:

We look forward to working with the new members and thank the nominations committee for their work. We are also grateful to all who voted in the election. Read more here.

Outgoing Board of Directors Members

In addition to recognizing the incoming members of the Board, we would also like to extend an earnest thank you to our outgoing board members for their years of service to the Institute:

Their commitment and insight are greatly valued and have helped to facilitate the advancement of The Combustion Institute. 

Call for Nominations: 2025 Fellows of The Combustion Institute

Nomination packages for the 2025 Class of Fellows of The Combustion Institute must be submitted through the CI website or via email by 23:59 EDT, 30 September 2024. The Fellows of The Combustion Institute are recognized by their peers as distinguished for outstanding contributions to combustion, whether it be in research or in applications. Any questions can be directed to office@combustioninstitute.org.

CI-Summer School Call for Proposals

We encourage universities, Combustion Institute Sections, and other qualified organizations to submit a proposal for the Combustion Institute-Summer School Program (CI-SS). Guidelines for submitting a proposal can be found on the CI website's CI-SS page. The deadline for proposals to host 2025 CI-SS programs is 31 May 2025.

Call for Submissions: CI's 70th Anniversary

In 2024, The Combustion Institute celebrates its 70th anniversary since its establishment as a non-profit organization in 1954. During our recent 40th Symposium – Emphasizing Energy Transition, several events highlighted this significant milestone. Additionally, we have produced a commemorative video and invite you to submit your own video for inclusion in a future updated version. Please refer to the Call for Submissions for further details and guidelines. 

2023 Distinguished Paper Award (DPA) in the Fire Research Colloquium 
Congratulations to Yusuke Konno, Yutao Li, Jean-Marie Citerne, Guillaume Legros, Augustin Guibaud, Nozomu Hashimoto, and Osamu Fujita for winning the DPA in the Fire Research colloquium. Research for their winning paper, “Experimental study on downward/opposed flame spread and extinction over electric wires in partial gravity environments,” was conducted in 2020 under a formal agreement between the Japanese and French Space Agencies (CNES and JAXA, respectively). Read more about their study here.

Highlights from the 3rd International Combustion Institute-Summer School on Near-Wall Reactive Flows

Hosted by the Germany Section, the 3rd International Combustion Institute-Summer School on Near-Wall Reactive Flows was held from 10-13 June at TU Darmstadt in Darmstadt, Germany. More than 80 participants from over 15 countries participated. Read more here.

Check in on Our Job Opportunities Page

The CI website's job opportunities page is consistently updated with a wealth of opportunities for members of the combustion community. If you are seeking employment,  take a look. If you have a position to fill, let us know, we are happy to help.

Assembling a list of upcoming CI and CI-affiliated events

The 3rd SoAE will be held in Shanghai, China from 22-26 September 2024. The technical program will include an opening ceremony, plenary lecture sessions, oral presentation sessions, poster presentation sessions, lab tours, a closing ceremony, and specialized workshops. Read more here.

The 2024 Annual Meeting of the Spanish Section of the Combustion Institute, will take place from 17-18 October 2024 in Madrid, Spain. More information is available here.

Providing updates about the recent International Symposium on Combustion

Symposium Summary

The 40th International Symposium - Emphasizing Energy Transition proved to be a great success! Over 1500 people participated in the five-day event, which included 444 oral presentations delivered during parallel sessions, 138 presentations delivered in dedicated poster sessions, and 557 Work-in-Progress Posters on display. Program Co-Chairs, Bassam Dally and José L. Torero, did a fantastic job incorporating new ideas and approaches to allow for an increased number of presentations, while still preserving the integrity of the symposium and allowing attendees to fully appreciate the work of their colleagues. The local host team, led by Tiziano Faravelli and Italy Section Chair Mario Commodo, excelled at selecting venues and organizing unforgettable events. In addition, the pre-meeting workshops and ancillary events, including the Women in Combustion Luncheon and Early Career Researcher Mixer, set new standards of excellence for future meetings. Other highlights included nine Industry Invited Perspective Presentations (articles generated from their presentations will appear in a special edition of the journal, Applied Energy and Combustion Science) and two panel sessions focusing on the past and future of combustion science research. 

Villa Erba in Lake Como provided a picturesque setting for those who participated in the picnic excursion, while the Alfa Romeo Museum served as a unique venue for the awards banquet. Those honored with awards at the Symposium are listed below. As always, we congratulate the winners and thank everyone for their support and participation. We continue to seek your assistance by requesting that you complete the post-Symposium survey(s) that you should have received via email, and submit any Distinguished Paper Award recommendations to office@combustioninstitute.org.

CI Gold Medal Recipients

2024 Bernard Lewis Gold Medal

2024 Alfred C. Egerton Gold Medal

2024 Ya. B. Zeldovich Gold Medal

2024 Jürgen Warnatz Gold Medal

Tiziano Faravelli,  Politecnico di Milano, Italy - "For excellent contributions to combustion science and applications by systematic, innovative and impactful development, validation and optimization of chemical reaction mechanisms.” Read more.

2024 Silver Combustion Medal

Also recognized at the Symposium were the recipients of the 2024 Silver Combustion Medal. Congratulations to: 

• Leonardo Castellanos, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
• Francesco Mazza, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
• Alexis Bohlin, GKN Aerospace Sweden AB, Sweden 

They were awarded the Silver Combustion Medal for their outstanding paper, “Water vapor in hydrogen flames measured by time-resolved collisional dephasing of the pure rotational N2 CARS signal,” presented at the 39th International Symposium on Combustion in 2022. Read more here.

2024 Bernard Lewis Fellowship

Six promising young researchers were also honored at the 40th International Symposium, receiving the esteemed Bernard Lewis Fellowship. The recipients are as follows:

• Jackson Crane, Queen's University, Canada
• Anna Doner, University of Georgia, United States
• Tao Li, TU Darmstadt, Germany and  Cambridge University, United Kingdom
• Wei Li,  Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
• Shaorun Lin,  University of California, Berkeley, United States
• Luna Pratali Maffei,  Politecnico di Milano, Italy

You can read more about all the honorees here.

On-Demand Platform for 40th Symposium Presentations

Recorded presentations submitted by accepted authors at the 40th International Symposium -  Emphasizing Energy Transition are available via an online repository that can be accessed on-demand. Attendees of the Symposium receive access as part of their registration, while those who did not attend can purchase access to the repository for USD $450. The recordings are available for six months from the Symposium's conclusion on 26 July 2024. Read more here.

PROCI Volume 40 Updates

At the time of this newsletter's publication, over 500 articles in Volume 40 of  Proceedings of The Combustion Institute (PROCI) are available online via Science Direct. By streamlining the review process and switching to electronic-only publication, it has allowed us to nearly complete Volume 40 more than 6 months earlier than previous volumes. Again, we thank everyone who has worked on this project, including the authors, colloquium teams, reviewers and PROCI editors. Those interested in receiving access to these materials should visit Science Direct.

41st ISOC Technical Program Co-Chairs (PCCs) Appointed

The Combustion Institute is proud to announce the appointment of Osamu Fujita of Hokkaido University, Japan and Venkat Raman of University of Michigan, United States as the PCCs for the 41st International Symposium on Combustion. The 41st ISOC will take place 26-31 July 2026 in Kyoto, Japan. 

Highlighting combustion resources and the accomplishments of CI members

The International Sooting Flame (ISF) Workshop is an ongoing, biennial forum. The most recent iteration of the workshop was held from 20-21 July 2024, timed to occur before the 40th International Symposium - Emphasizing Energy Transition held in Milan from 21-26 July 2024.

At the 7th edition of this workshop, prizes were awarded to Claudia-F. López Cámara of TU/e - EMPI – CENIDE, and Andrea Nobili of CRECK Modeling – Politecnico di Milano. You can view recordings of their presentations on our YouTube channel. Congratulations to the recipients!

CI members A. Carlos Fernandez-Pello (who was recently awarded a Gold Medal at the 40th Symposium) and Michael Gollner are leading the Material Ignition and spread (MIST) experiment, designed to test the flammability of materials in microgravity spaceflight environments. Read more about the project here.