News Release

NYU Tandon dean emeritus Katepalli Sreenivasan appointed to the Max Planck Solar System Research Institute as an external scientific member

Leading expert in fluid dynamics and turbulence named external scientific member of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research

Grant and Award Announcement

NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Max Planck Institute Appoints Noted Physicist

image: Katepalli R. Sreenivasan was named an external scientific member of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research. Sreenivasan's appointment will strengthen its study of turbulent and dynamical processes in planets, the Sun, and Sun-like stars. Dean emeritus of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Sreenivasan holds New York University appointments in physics, mathematics, and mechanical and aerospace engineering. view more 

Credit: NYU Tandon

BROOKLYN, New York, Monday, September 24, 2018 - Katepalli R. Sreenivasan, the dean emeritus of the New York University Tandon School of Engineering, has been named one of four external scientific members of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research.

One of the 84 entities that comprise the Max Planck Society (MPS), which is among the world's most highly regarded research organizations, the Institute for Solar System Research is based in Göttingen, Germany. The institute said Sreenivasan's appointment is expected to strengthen its endeavors to study turbulent and dynamical processes in planets, the Sun, and Sun-like stars.

Sreenivasan holds NYU faculty appointments in physics on the Faculty of Arts and Science, mathematics at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and mechanical and aerospace engineering at the Tandon School of Engineering. Among his numerous distinctions, he is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has published more than 300 articles in scientific journals and books.

In its announcement, the Institute for Solar System Research explained that driven by the heat from within, complex motions in the interiors of solar-system planets may generate magnetic fields in these planets. In Earth's mantle, flows carry internal heat to the surface where they drive plate tectonics. Within the Sun, hot plasma rises to the surface, cools and sinks down again. These turbulent flows are responsible for a myriad of solar phenomena such as its granular surface pattern or its different rotation speeds at different latitudes.

Sreenivasan's area of expertise is the physics underlying all these processes and effects, and his goal is to uncover the fundamental properties of convective and turbulent flows, ultimately increasing understanding of the exact mechanisms behind them.

A collaboration between Sreenivasan and MPS researchers has already led to a reevaluation of existing models of solar convection. Future projects will include the study of the effects of solar rotation on turbulence in the Sun.

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About the New York University Tandon School of Engineering

The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, the founding date for both the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly). A January 2014 merger created a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention and entrepreneurship and dedicated to furthering technology in service to society. In addition to its main location in Brooklyn, NYU Tandon collaborates with other schools within NYU, one of the country's foremost private research universities, and is closely connected to engineering programs at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai. It operates Future Labs focused on start-up businesses in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn and an award-winning online graduate program. For more information, visit http://engineering.nyu.edu.


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