The Combustion Institute
Quarterly newsletter for the advancement of combustion science

As The Combustion Institute enters 2018 the focus of our membership is on the 37th International Symposium on Combustion, which will convene in Dublin, Ireland from Sunday, 29 July through Friday, 3 August 2018. The Local Host Team is finalizing their plans and looks forward to opening registration before the end of January through the symposium website.

Program Co-Chairs, Heinz Pitsch and Hai Wang, are preparing to review the ranking information that will be provided by the Colloquium Coordinators and Co-Chairs. These teams will soon be reading reviews and rebuttals to provide the information used in preparation of the program.

Reviewers have completed their first round of paper reviews. Authors will soon receive these comments and submit their rebuttals. A new step has been introduced in the ranking process for presentations at symposium. Once authors submit their rebuttals, Colloquium Coordinators and Co-Chairs have the opportunity to send those rebuttals to reviewers for a second evaluation. New reviewer comments will then be considered by the colloquia teams for the rankings of their papers.

Authors will receive decisions on presentations during the week of 26 March 2018. As you wait for those notifications, I hope you will start planning for the symposium. The popularity of Dublin and Ireland as a vacation destination has significantly increased over the last several years. While the Local Host Team has worked to provide hotel room blocks, those blocks will not be able to be held for as long as with past symposia. Consider your accommodation options as early as possible. You are encouraged to register early. Once registration goes live, an announcement will be emailed to all members.

After spending a week touring parts of Ireland last summer, I am excited to return to the Emerald Isle and enjoy the company of our members and students. Renewing friendships, meeting students, and making new connections, while sharing research in a beautiful location will make this stand out as our best week of 2018.

‒Barb Waronek, Executive Administrator

Call for Nominations: Gold Medals of The Combustion - The Call for Nominations has been released for the 2018 Gold Medals of The Combustion Institute. The international combustion community recognizes major contributions to the advancement of combustion science with the bestowal of four gold medals. The awards will be presented during the banquet at the 37th International Symposium on Combustion in Dublin, Ireland.

Board of Directors Call for Nominations Released - The Call for Nominations for the 2018 Board of Directors election has been released. Every two years, The Combustion Institute membership has the opportunity to nominate and elect new directors for nonconsecutive six-year terms from a slate of candidates assembled by the Board of Directors Nomination Committee. Please download the Call for Nominations and submit your nomination package prior to the deadline of 23:59 PST, 28 January 2018.

Introducing 2018 Combustion Institute-Summer Schools - In September 2017, The Combustion Institute approved three comprehensive programs for the 2018 Combustion Institute-Summer School initiative at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, Princeton University, United States, and Tsinghua University, China. Graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and other interested parties are encouraged to attend CI-SS programs. Participants will have the opportunity to receive an intensive educational experience. Proposals for 2019 Combustion Institute-Summer Schools are due no later than 31 March 2018.

New Associate Editor: Combustion and Flame - Beginning 1 February 2018, Judit Zádor, Sandia National Laboratories, United States, will launch her six-year term as the Associate Editor for The Combustion Institute journal, Combustion and Flame. Dr. Zádor will be one of six Associate Editors for the journal, and she succeeds James A. Miller, Argonne National Laboratories, United States, who has served as Associate Editor since 2006.

CI Member Receives Dilip R. Ballal Early Career Engineer Award - Jacqueline O’Connor, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, United States, has been selected by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI) as the 2018 Dilip R. Ballal Early Career Engineer Award winner. The award honors individuals for outstanding accomplishments during the beginning of their careers. Professor O’Connor was selected for her collected body of work in the area of gas turbine technology.

2017 China National Symposium on Combustion - Approximately 1,300 delegates from 125 institutions in China, United States, Australia, South Korea, Sweden and New Zealand attended the 2017 China National Symposium on Combustion. The annual national symposium convened at Southeast University in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China from Friday, 13 October through Sunday, 15 October 2017.

Author Rebuttals of Submitted Papers Forwarded to Reviewers - The Combustion Institute announces a new step in the ranking process of submitted papers to the 37th International Symposium on Combustion. Once authors submit their rebuttals of reviewed papers, Colloquium Coordinators and Colloquium Co-Chairs have the opportunity to send those rebuttals to reviewers for a second evaluation. New reviewer comments will then be considered by the colloquia teams for the rankings of their papers.

Clean Combustion, A Scientific Perspective - In the perspective paper, Clean combustion: Chemistry and diagnostics for a systems approach in transportation and energy conversion, Katharina Kohse-Höinghaus discusses some specific developments in the field of combustion. As a multidisciplinary field that connects chemistry, fluid dynamics, metrology, and high-performance computing with a variety of practical applications in energy, transportation, and industrial production, combustion science is well positioned to assist the development of new technologies for sustainable future energy systems.

2017 Distinguished Paper Awarded: IC Engine Combustion - The authoritative paper, Influence of three-dimensional in-cylinder flows on cycle-to-cycle variations in a fired stratified DISI engine measured by time-resolved dual-plane PIV, explores an improved understanding of the mechanisms of the IC-engine combustion, specifically the three-dimensional in-cylinder flow and its influence on cycle-to-cycle variations (CCVs) in a fired, direct-injection, spray-guided, spark-ignition engine.

2017 Distinguished Paper Awarded: Solid Fuel Combustion - The authoritative paper, Flamelet LES modeling of coal combustion with detailed devolatilization by directly coupled CPD, explores devolatilization and volatile combustion in pulverized coal combustion (PCC) within time- and large-scale resolving numerical simulations, referred to as large eddy simulations (LES). The scientific team developed numerical models that can help with the design and optimization of combustion processes, such that pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced and resources can be used more economically.

2017 Distinguished Paper Awarded: Soot, Nanoparticles, PAH and Other Large Molecules - The authoritative paper, Real-time observation of soot aggregate oxidation in an Environmental Transmission Electron Microscope, explores how particulate oxidation during combustion effects the size and structure of oxidized particulate matter. The scientific team used a new Environmental Transmission Electron Microscope (ETEM) technique to view oxidation of particles in real time at the nanometer scale.