CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Trinity Men’s Union of Holy Trinity Armenian Church of Greater Boston will host Hunter Mack, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, as its guest speaker at their dinner and meeting on Monday, November 12. Mack’s topic is “The Role of Combustion in an Evolving Energy Landscape.” He will explain the differences between all the alternative sources of energy available today and show how combustion will still need to play a role in the future.
The rise in renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, has greatly impacted how electricity is generated. However, more than 80 percent of energy comes from traditional processes that rely on combustion to convert fuels into energy. How combustion is used and where fuels are found will play a major role in meeting future energy demands, reducing harmful emissions, and enabling next-generation transportation concepts.
Mack’s research focuses on combustion, biofuels, and energy efficiency. Prior to joining the University of Massachusetts Lowell, he was a project scientist and lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley, a senior engineer at solar concentrator start-up Banyan Energy, and a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Combustion Analysis Laboratory at UC Berkeley. He received his MS (2005) and PhD (2007) from UC Berkeley with an emphasis on multi-component fuels in Homogenous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engines. He also holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Washington University (St. Louis MO) and a B.A. in physics from Hendrix College (Conway, AK).
The dinner/meeting will be held in Johnson Hall of Holy Trinity Armenian Church, 145 Brattle St. All are welcome to attend. The social hour begins at 6 p.m., and dinner at 7 p.m. RSVP is requested by November 11 by emailing tmuhtaac@gmail.com.
