Tengfei Luo named Dorini Family Professor of Energy Studies

Tengfei Luo

Tengfei Luo, professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at the University of Notre Dame, has been awarded an endowed professorship. He was named Notre Dame’s Dorini Family Professor of Energy Studies on July 1, 2022.

Appointment to an endowed chair is one of the highest honors in the University, signifying distinguished achievement in one’s field, said Patricia J. Culligan, the Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of the College of Engineering.

“Professor Luo is a renowned leader in the field of fundamental energy and mass transport at the nano/molecular scale,” Culligan said. “He has served his research community and our own Notre Dame community with distinction.

“He is also an outstanding teacher and was the recipient of the 2020 Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. It is wonderful to see him be honored with this chair.”

Luo leads the MONSTER Lab (MOlecular/Nano-Scale Transport & Energy Research Laboratory). His group studies the fundamental physics of energy and mass transport from the molecular and nano-scale, using theories, simulations, data-driven approaches and experiments.

He and his team apply this knowledge toward engineering materials with tailored thermal properties, thermal management of electronics, improving efficiency of energy devices, designing molecules and systems for water desalination, high-sensitivity bio-sensing, and additive manufacturing.

Luo earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Michigan State University and completed his undergraduate degree in energy and power engineering at Xi’an Jiaotong University, China.

He completed postdoctoral work at MIT before joining the Notre Dame faculty in 2012.

— Karla Cruise, College of Engineering