The University of Oxford has conferred the title of Visiting Professor in Engineering to Gautam Kalghatgi, internationally renowned for research in the fields of fuels, combustion and engines. Professor Kalghatgi is engaged at Saudi Aramco’s Research and Development Center in Dhahran. He works on better understanding fuel requirements of engines and on developing new, optimized fuel/engine combustion systems. His recent work at Saudi Aramco demonstrates the implications of engine technology developments on the manufacturing and marketing of future transport fuels. In his new role, he will teach and do research in the university’s Department of Engineering Science. As the global energy demand for commercial transport increases more rapidly than for passenger cars, the availability of light low octane fuels will increase. Highly efficient engines which can use such fuels have to be developed to ensure the sustainability of future transport, including fuels manufacturing. One option is Octane on Demand where spark-ignition engines run on such fuels and use high-octane fuel only when needed. The other option is to use such fuels in diesel engines (Gasoline Compression Ignition, where they are particularly suited to achieve low particulates and NOx, a major problem with conventional diesel engines. Dr. Kalghatgi has contributed significantly to the scope and execution of two flagship programs in both these areas. He helps guide the research programs in fuel technology at the Saudi Aramco centers in Dhahran, Paris and Detroit. He has an association with Imperial College London as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and has held similar appointments in the past with the Technical University of Eindhoven, The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm and The University of Sheffield. The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has appointed him to the International Scientific Advisory Board of their Clean Combustion Center. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) in the United Kingdom and of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and is on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Engine Research, IMECHE Journal of Automobile Engineering, and SAE Journal of Fuels and Lubricants. His book, “Fuel/Engine Interactions,” was published by the SAE in 2014.
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