image: Dereje Agonafer, left, and Jimil Shah. view more
Credit: UT Arlington
Jimil Shah, a recent mechanical engineering doctoral graduate, is the recipient of the 2018 ASME Electronic and Photonic Packaging Division Student Engineer of The Year Award.
He received the award at the recent American Society of Mechanical Engineers' InterPACK Conference in San Francisco.
The award recognizes a student who has excelled in research and has shown promise to be a strong contributor in the field of electronic and photonic packaging. Only one student is selected annually for the national award.
"This recognition affirms the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and UTA's standing within the EPPD community," MAE Chair Erian Armanios said.
Shah received his doctorate in August 2018 and is a post-doctoral research associate in Dereje Agonafer's research group. Agonafer is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.
Shah said he was always drawn to thermodynamics and refrigeration/air-conditioning projects.
"Here at UTA, Dr. Agonafer and his research lab is a part of a great program called as ES2 or, the Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems, which is an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center funded by National Science Foundation," Shah said. "I felt that this program will provide me an opportunity to utilize my knowledge of thermodynamics in the area of thermal management of data centers."
As a graduate student, Shah published 11 journal and conference papers with seven additional journal papers under review. His research focuses on gaining an in-depth understanding of immersion cooling strategies for data centers and the impact of particulate and gaseous contamination on IT equipment where air side economizers are implemented.
"As an ES2 researcher, I got a chance to work with renown industry mentors. I have attended more than 20 conferences during my graduate studies. That gave me an exposure to exchange the ideas with my peers," Shah said.
As a graduate student, Shah has published 11 journal and conference papers followed by seven more journal papers as under review.
Currently, Shah is a postdoctoral research associate focusing on a number of research topics. Past doctoral students from Agonafer's lab have done well, employed in technology companies such as Facebook and Intel.
His awards include the I-Engage Mentoring Program Scholarship and the Best Student Abstract Award at IMAPS 2015.
"Congratulations on behalf of the entire division! We look forward to your continued progress and accomplishments," wrote Kaustubh Nagarkar from GE Corporate, who is general chair of the conference.
Currently, Shah is working on understanding single-phase immersion cooling strategies for data centers and other subjects.
Shah is the second of Agonafer's students to win the EPPD Student Engineer of the Year Award. Fahad Mirza won in 2014.
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