Jennifer Sinclair Curtis receives Alexander von Humboldt Research Award
Chemical engineering (CHE) distinguished professor Jennifer Sinclair Curtis has received the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Award. Every year, the award recognizes world-renowned researchers from all disciplines whose fundamental discoveries, theories and findings have had a lasting effect on their field and brings them to German institutions as visiting scholars.
The award will support Curtis in a six-month research project in collaboration with particle technology expert Wolfgang Peukert at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. The project will have two focuses—granular flow in additive manufacturing processes such as 3D-printing, and stressing or applying heat treatment to particles to design new materials with novel properties and extraordinary functionalities.
“I am grateful to have this opportunity to collaborate with world leaders in the particle technology research community, many of whom are German scientists and engineers,” she said.
Curtis is known for her multi-phase particle flow simulations, which have been extensively adopted by commercial and open-source software packages and have been used by the energy, pharmaceutical, aerospace, chemical and agricultural industries, among others.
She has received numerous accolades for both her teaching and research. Most recently, she received the 2020 American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Benjamin Garver Lamme Award and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Particle Technology Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. She is a fellow of the AIChE, ASEE, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and American Physical Society (APS) and is co-chair of the National Academies’ Board of Chemical Sciences and Technology.
She joined UC Davis in 2015 and served as dean of the College of Engineering until 2020 before returning to research and teaching in the CHE department.
Curtis is the 20th UC Davis faculty member to receive the honor and the sixth from the College of Engineering, joining CHE professor Bruce Gates, materials science and engineering distinguished professor emeritus Zuhair Munir, mechanical and aerospace engineering professor emeritus Dean Karnopp, civil and environmental engineering professor emeritus Bruce Larock and electrical and computer engineering adjunct professor Shu Lin. She is the first UC Davis engineer to receive the honor in over 20 years.
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, named after the German nature researcher and explorer, aims to strengthen Germany as a research location through international academic exchange and by supporting Humboldt fellows and award winners throughout their lives and careers.