Who are we?
Omar Abdelaziz, PhD
Abdelaziz is an assistant professor of thermofluids with more than 15 years of Research and Development (R&D) and project management experience in energy-efficient building technologies, sustainable energy production and utilization, alternative cooling and heating technologies, and alternative lower global warming refrigerants. He started his professional career at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2009 after obtaining his PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. Ahmed also joined the US Department of Energy Building Technologies Office as a senior fellow (2012-2014). He further developed the office’s technology prioritization tool and developed new programs for building-integrated solar technologies and carbon fiber. Upon his return to ORNL in 2014, Abdelaziz led the building equipment research group and was responsible for a diverse research program with an annual budget of $18M. In September 2017, he moved to Dubai, UAE, and established CLEAT-Consulting, where he catered to global consulting and R&D services for green buildings. Ahmed actively collaborates with leading appliance and equipment manufacturers on developing advanced and state-of-the-art Heating, Ventilation, Air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) equipment. Abdelaziz is currently a member of the United Nations Ozone Secretariat Techno-economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) and a co-chair of its Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, and Heat Pump Technical Options Committee (RTOC). He is an active member of the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineering (ASHRAE). He serves on its research administration committee as a research activity subcommittee chair. He also serves on several other technical committees and multi-disciplinary task groups. Ahmed is an internationally recognized expert. He received several awards, including the ASHRAE 2018 Best Technical Paper Award, the Technical Leadership Award at the Montreal Protocol 30th anniversary, the 12th IEA Heat Pump Conference Ritter Von Rittinger Award, the 2016 ASHRAE Distinguished Service Award, and the 2005 AIAA Best Paper Award in Terrestrial Energy. Finally, Abdelaziz has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and holds several patents.
Omar Zaki
Omar is a mechanical engineering PhD candidate at the University of Illinois in the USA. Omar received his BSc with High Honors from Cairo University in 2019 while being the valedictorian of his class. He also received his MSc from Cairo University in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on heat transfer and air conditioning. His research focuses on additively manufactured heat exchangers and heat exchanger design automation along with electronics cooling and utilizing machine learning in analyzing boiling and condensation.