| Faculty & Staff | |
| Catherine Koshland | |
| Donald Lucas | |
| Bob Sawyer | |
| Students & Associates | |
| Chris Damm | |
| Scott Fable | |
| Susan Fischer | |
| Pamela Franklin | |
| Andrew Kean | |
| Chris Stipe |
Chris
is a Ph.D. candidate in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University
of California—Berkeley. His research focuses on the development of
novel laser diagnostic techniques for measurements in reacting flows.
The developed techniques are used to study toxic pollutant formation in
combustion systems. Pollutants of interest are inorganic and organic
particulate matter, toxic metals, and ammonia. Recent efforts have
focused on real-time measurement of diesel particulate.
Chris received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1991 and his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1993, both from the University of Minnesota. His Master’s thesis was on the development of a research tool for optical measurements of fuel sprays. In 1995 he received a Master’s degree in Physics from Brown University, where he was a US Department of Education Future Faculty Development Fellow. At Brown, his research focused on the development of a quality assurance test for radiographic imaging systems.
He served as a teaching assistant for courses in Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, and Introductory Physics and has been a guest lecturer for a course on Air Pollution Control. He has a passion for teaching and plans to pursue a college teaching career when finished with his studies at UC-Berkeley.
Chris is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Society for Engineering Education, SAE International (formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers), the American Physical Society, Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma.
Chris is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys mountain biking, fly-fishing, hiking, and snowboarding.
E-Mail: cjdamm@lbl.gov
Scott
Fable is a fourth-year graduate student at UC Berkeley. His PhD research
is on premixed turbulent
combustion at high pressure, where he creates a methane-air premixed
turbulent flame in a high-pressure vessel and then characterizes the flame
using laser diagnostics. His goal is to correlate NOx emissions and
pressure-induced changes in flame structure.
Scott received his Masters from UC Berkeley in December 1998 with a masters project in fuel cell fabrication. He received his undergraduate degree in 1996 from the University of California, Irvine, where he worked at the UCI Combustion Laboratory under Professor Scott Samuelsen.
After completing his Ph.D., he is interested in continuing with research
in low-polluting power systems, in particular those that integrate microturbine
and fuel cell technology.
E-Mail: fable@newton.berkeley.edu
Susan
Fischer is a doctoral student of environmental health sciences, in the
School of Public Health. She is interested in methodology for assessing
human health burdens associated with industrial systems, with particular
interest in valuation of human health in facility level, production chain,
and global climate change impact assessments.
She received her M.S.E. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton
University, where she researched chemical kinetics of dimethyl ether in
a turbulent flow reactor (Frederick L. Dryer’s Combustion Laboratory)
and participated in comparative modeling of fuel cell reformers at the
Center for Energy and Environmental Studies. Her B.S. degree was
in Physics at Davidson College, where she worked with Dr. Wolfgang Christian
on computational simulations for educational software.
E-Mail: sfischer@uclink4.berkeley.edu
Ms.
Pamela Franklin is a doctoral candidate in the Energy and Resources Group
at the University of California, Berkeley. Her principal areas of
research include organizational theory, public policy, environmental law,
combustion-generated air pollution, science policy, and social studies
of science and technology.
Ms. Franklin’s dissertation research evaluates the role of the privatization of scientific experts in environmental policymaking at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). The dissertation explores how the source of expertise affects the utilization of scientific knowledge for setting standards or making regulations. The EPA has a dual mission as a research agency and as a regulatory agency. Yet the agency has only limited resources with which to conduct research, fund external research, and perform its regulatory and enforcement duties. What are the feedback mechanisms that relate decisions about how to allocate resources for conducting research to decisions about how to review, scrutinize, and legitimize that information? What role does discretion play in this process within the agency? To explore these questions, Ms. Franklin’s dissertation incorporates two case studies of agency decisionmaking processes in the 1990s: (1) the regulation of oxygenated and reformulated gasoline following the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, and (2) the establishment of drinking water guidelines and standards for disinfection byproducts, especially chloroform.
Ms. Franklin has also worked extensively on research evaluating the automotive emission impacts of the gasoline oxygenate MTBE, and its implications for air quality in California. This research incorporated original laboratory research using a flow reactor apparatus with a comprehensive assessment of existing laboratory, vehicle engine, and on-road emission measurements. She presented the results of the UC Berkeley research team results to a number of audiences, including public meetings held by the California EPA, the US EPA’s Blue Ribbon Panel on the Role of Oxygenates in Gasoline, and at the International Toxics Combustion Byproducts Congress in Karlsruhe, Germany.
While at U.C. Berkeley, Ms. Franklin has worked as a research assistant through grants from the University of California Energy Institute, for the U.C. Toxic Substances Research & Teaching Program, and for the U.C. SB521 Grant funded by the state legislature to evaluate the effects of MTBE. She also worked as a Graduate Student Instructor for the Energy and Resources Group’s flagship course, Energy and Society. Ms. Franklin also received a scholarship from the Air & Waste Management Association.
Ms. Franklin received her B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University in 1991, and her M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University in 1992. She worked as a staff engineer at Acurex Environmental (now Arthur D. Little) from 1992 – 1996, as an environmental consultant working primarily on air-quality-related projects.
Ms. Franklin is a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Air & Waste Management Association, and the American Chemical Society. She is an avid swimmer.
E-Mail: pamelamf@socrates.berkeley.edu
Mr.
Andrew James Kean is a graduate student researcher at the University of
California, Berkeley. He is working towards his PhD. in Mechanical Engineering.
At UCB, Mr. Kean is co-advised by Prof. Robert Sawyer of the Department
of Mechanical Engineering and Prof. Robert Harley of the Department of
Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is very fond of automobiles, so
he focuses his efforts on understanding combustion and reducing air pollution
caused by autos. Along with air pollution, he hopes to address other
aspects of automobiles such as safety, noise pollution, and styling during
his career.
Mr. Kean received his B.E. in mechanical engineering from The Cooper Union in New York City in 1997, and his M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1999. His goal is to have earned his PhD. by 2002.
After graduation, Mr. Kean hopes to become a university professor.
He has enjoyed his interactions with his professors while at Cooper Union
and UCB, and would enjoy the opportunity to impact the lives of future
students in a similar manner. If that doesn’t work out, he would
also very much enjoy working for a car company as a combustion/air pollution
engineer. Long term goals include starting a brand new car company,
which focuses on safety and low environmental impact while still addressing
performance and styling needs of the consumer. He also toys with
the idea of running for statewide political office.
Christopher
Stipe is a second year graduate student at the University of California,
Berkeley, where he studies combustion and laser diagnostics of hazardous
species. He is currently attempting to measure Cerium, which is being
considered as an on-board fuel additive catalyst in Europe, by Excimer
Laser Fragmentation Fluorescence Spectroscopy. He plans to obtain
both his M.S. and Ph. D. in Mechanical Engineering at Berkeley.
Christopher received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Montana State University, Bozeman and studied in the United Kingdom for the 1996-1997 academic year at Lancaster University. Upon graduation, he conducted research for one year at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. His research included life cycle fatigue testing of wind-turbine blades, static pull tests of wind-turbine components, and material testing.
After graduating, he plans to pursue a career as a professor with the hope that he can touch the lives of his students in a positive way. Christopher enjoys spending time with his wife, rockclimbing, mountaineering, hiking, and playing classical guitar.
E-Mail: cstipe@newton.berkeley.edu