Mohamed Gad el Hak

Biography

Mohamed Gad-el-Hak was born in 1945 in Tanta, Egypt. He grew up in Cairo, and received his B.Sc. (summa cum laude) in mechanical engineering from Ain Shams University in 1966, and his Ph.D. in fluid mechanics from the Johns Hopkins University in 1973, under the tutelage of Stanley Corrsin. Gad-el-Hak lived in the United States of America since 1968, and became a U.S. citizen in 1981.

Gad-el-Hak was senior research scientist and program manager at Flow Research Company in Seattle, Washington, and then professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at the University of Notre Dame, finally coming to Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002 as chair of mechanical engineering, subsequently expanded to mechanical and nuclear engineering. He has also worked at the University of Southern California, University of Virginia, Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, Université de Poitiers, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen–Nürnberg, Technische Universität München, and Technische Universität Berlin.

Scientific work

Gad-el-Hak is known for developing novel diagnostic tools for turbulent flows, including the laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) technique for flow visualization; for discovering the efficient mechanism via which a turbulent region rapidly grows by destabilizing a surrounding laminar flow. He has conducted the seminal experiments that detailed the fluid–compliant surface interactions in turbulent boundary layers; introduced the concept of targeted control to achieve drag reduction, lift enhancement, and mixing augmentation in wall-bounded flows; developed a novel viscous pump suited for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) applications. His work on Reynolds number effects in turbulent boundary layers, published in 1994, marked a paradigm shift in the subject. His 1999 paper on the fluid mechanics of microdevices established the fledgling field on firm physical grounds and is one of the most cited articles of the 1990s.

Gad-el-Hak is the author of the book Flow Control: Passive, Active, and Reactive Flow Management, and editor of the books Frontiers in Experimental Fluid Mechanics, Advances in Fluid Mechanics Measurements, Flow Control: Fundamentals and Practices, The MEMS Handbook, and Large-Scale Disasters: Prediction, Control and Mitigation.

Below are more details of Gad-el-Hak’s scholarly accomplishments:

1. Authored the first archival paper to describe the laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) flow visualization technique (“On the Growth of Turbulent Regions in Laminar Boundary Layers,” Journal of Fluid Mechanics, vol. 110, pp. 73–95, 1981). The novelty lies in the ability to generate a very thin sheet of laser light as to be able to see one plane at a time, and the use of minuscule amounts of fluorescent dye as not to make the fluid’s interior opaque. Among the technique’s advantages are its high signal-to-noise ratio and its ability to dissect the flow field, as a CAT scan would to solid objects. LIF is now routinely used in numerous laboratories around the world, for both gas and liquid flows.

2. First to place the fledgling field of microfluidics on firm physical ground. His 1999 paper comprehensively accomplishing that feat has been cited over 1,306 times. Whole books, graduate-level courses, and funding programs sprang worldwide as a result of this single paper.

3. His work on Reynolds number effects in turbulent boundary layers, first published in 1994 and continuing throughout the 2000s, marked a significant paradigm shift in the subject. Funding programs in DARPA, ONR, and AFOSR were inspired by Gad-el-Hak’s seminal paper.

4. Conducted the seminal experiments that detailed the fluid–compliant surface interactions in turbulent boundary layers. He also introduced a non-invasive technique to probe the coating’s instability waves. The laser-based probe has a spatial resolution of 1 micron and temporal resolution of several kHz.

5. Introduced the concept of selective/targeted/opposition/reactive control to achieve drag reduction, lift enhancement, and mixing augmentation in wall-bounded flows. This patented closed-loop control is now researched intensively around the world. Entire scientific conferences and funding programs are dedicated to reactive (in contrast to active) control.

6. Identified the mechanism by which a turbulent region grows into a laminar, vortical flow. The efficient growth by destabilization mechanism is an order of magnitude more effective than the traditional entrainment process in which a turbulent region incorporates/engulfs the surrounding irrotational flow.

7. Developed a novel viscous pump suited for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) applications. Inertial pumps do not work at low Reynolds numbers. The only type that worked for MEMS, prior to introducing Gad-el-Hak’s rotary pump, was of the reciprocating variety.

8. Gad-el-Hak’s recent work on large-scale disasters resulted in the establishment of a universal metric by which the severity of all natural and manmade disasters is measured. His book on the subject was the first in the U.S. and second in the world to view large-scale disasters from the physical point of view, in contrast to the social, logistical, or medical viewpoints.

9. He was among the first group of aerodynamicists in the United States to work on the Supermaneuverability research program, a word coined by the German aerodynamicist Wolfgang Herbst. The DARPA/AFOSR unsteady aerodynamics program formed the foundation for the million plus Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) flying today.

10. Gad-el-Hak is the first engineering professor to develop and teach a writing course for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in science and engineering. The class is writing intensive and, through assessments, has proven to be more effective than similar classes taught by English and communications faculty. The semester-long course has also been offered by Gad-el-Hak as a short course in other universities.

11. An essay Gad-el-Hak penned for The Chronicle of Higher Education, “We Must Stop the Avalanche of Low-Quality Research”, was chosen in 2011 by the British Science Council to be part of a standardized English examination.

Gad-el-Hak authored 136 journal papers and 46 essays in magazines and newspapers. He has been featured in NPR, PBS, the journal Nature, and The New York Times. Additional to working in the broad field of mechanics, he penned essays and op/ed’s on global warming, energy crisis, proliferation of scholarly publications, massive open online courses (MOOC), university governance, STEM and the humanities, engineering education, and societal values of basic research.

Gad-el-Hak’s papers have been cited more than 11,530 times in the technical literature, and his h-index is 48, i100-index is 24, and i10-index is 120. Two of Gad-el-Hak’s books have been translated into Chinese, and several of his articles/essays have been translated into Chinese, the Czech language, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, and Turkish.

Gad-el-Hak delivered over 310 invited lectures in 24 countries. He is a consultant to the United Nations, the governments of twelve countries, and numerous academic and industrial concerns.

Honors

Gad-el-Hak has been a member of several advisory panels for DOD, DOE, NASA, and NSF. During the 1991/1992 academic year, he was a visiting professor at Institut de Mécanique de Grenoble, France. During the summers of 1993, 1994, and 1997, he was, respectively, a distinguished faculty fellow at Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Newport, Rhode Island, a visiting exceptional professor at Université de Poitiers, France, and a Gastwissenschaftler (guest scientist) at Forschungszentrum Rossendorf, Dresden, Germany.

Gad-el-Hak is a fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics, a fellow and life member of the American Physical Society, a fellow of the American Institute of Physics, a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a member of the European Mechanics Society. Gad-el-Hak served as editor of eight international journals, including AIAA Journal, Applied Mechanics Reviews, and Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He is additionally a contributing editor for Springer-Verlag’s Lecture Notes in Engineering and Lecture Notes in Physics, for McGraw-Hill’s Year Book of Science and Technology, and for CRC Press’s Mechanical Engineering Series.

Awards

In 1998, Gad-el-Hak was named the Fourteenth ASME Freeman Scholar. In 1999, he was awarded the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Prize as well as the Japanese Government Research Award for Foreign Scholars. In 2002, he was named ASME Distinguished Lecturer. Gad-el-Hak has also been awarded the ASME Medal for seminal contributions to the discipline of fluids engineering, as well as a Certificate of Appreciation in testimony of the high regard of his associates and the deep appreciation of the society for his valued services in advancing the engineering profession.

Selected publications

Gad-el-Hak, M. (2017) “In Defense of Science: What Would John Do?” Physics of Fluids, vol. 29, pp. 020602.1–020602.10.

Gad-el-Hak, M. (2016) “Nine Decades of Fluid Mechanics,” Journal of Fluids Engineering, vol. 138, pp. 100803.1–100803.10.

Gad-el-Hak, M. (2013) “STEM: Salmon Fishing in the US,” The Free Lance-Star, 30 June 2013, pp. D1–D3.

Gad-el-Hak, M. (2010) “Where Is Global Warming When We Need It?” The Free Lance-Star, 21 March, pp. D1–D3.

Gad-el-Hak, M. (2008) Large-Scale Disasters: Prediction, Control, and Mitigation, 600 pages, Cambridge University Press, London.

Gad-el-Hak, M. (2006) Flow Control: Passive, Active, and Reactive Flow Management, 448 pages, Cambridge University Press, London.

Gad-el-Hak, M. (2006) The MEMS Handbook, in three volumes, 1680 pages, CRC Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton, Florida.

Gad-el-Hak, M. (2004) “Publish or Perish—An Ailing Enterprise?,” Physics Today, vol. 57, March, pp. 61–62.

Gad-el-Hak, M. (1999) “The Fluid Mechanics of Microdevices—The Freeman Scholar Lecture,” Journal of Fluids Engineering, vol. 121, pp. 5–33.

Sen, M., Wajerski, D., and Gad-el-Hak, M. (1996) “A Novel Pump for MEMS Applications,” Journal of Fluids Engineering, vol. 118, pp. 624–627.

Gad-el-Hak, M., and Bandyopadhyay, P.R. (1994) “Reynolds Number Effects in Wall-Bounded Flows,” Applied Mechanics Reviews, vol. 47, pp. 307–365.