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Kareem Ahmed

Kareem Ahmed

Professor

Email: kareem.ahmed@ucf.edu
Phone: 407-823-5710
Office: ENG I, Room 410

Propulsion and Energy Research Lab
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Kareem Ahmed is an associate professor at the UCF Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and a faculty member of the Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research. Before joining UCF, he was an assistant professor at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Old Dominion University. Prior to that, he spent over three years as a senior aero/thermo engineer at Pratt & Whitney military engines working on advanced engine programs and technologies (F35 and F22 programs). He also served as a faculty member at Florida State University.

At UCF, Ahmed leads creative and technologically crucial projects in the area of advanced propulsion and energy research. He focuses on high-speed compressible turbulent combustion, detonations, supersonic compressible reacting flows, flow-flame control and advance laser diagnostics. He is a PI of more than $17 million in research funding from various organizations including NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, GE, Siemens. He is leading prime research in detonations for hypersonics and power generation research for AFOSR and DOE, both of which are the first to be explored in the U.S. and have been featured by numerous news media (UCF news, LinkedIn, and 2018 Spring Pegasus Magazine).

He has authored over 100 scholarly articles and is an AIAA Associate Fellow. He also received multiple special awards, including the American Chemical Society — Doctoral New Investigator Award and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Faculty Fellowship. His achievements in the area of propulsion related to aeronautics and astronautics resulted in his election to the AIAA 2019 Class of Associate Fellows.

Education:
• Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University at Buffalo — The State University of New York
• M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University at Buffalo — The State University of New York
• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University

  • Advanced propulsion and energy focusing on high-speed compressible turbulent flows
  • Deflagrations and detonations
  • Hypersonic and supersonic compressible reacting flows
  • Flow-flame control
  • Fluid mechanics
  • Advance laser diagnostics
  • Sosa, J.G, Chambers, J.G, AHMED, K.A. *, Poludnenko, A., Gamezo, V., “Compressible Turbulent Flame Speeds of Highly-Turbulent Standing Flames,” Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, (Distinguished Paper Award), Vol. 37, 2019. (Impact Factor: 4.12)
  • Geikie, M. G, AHMED, K.A. *, “Pressure-Gradient Tailoring Effects on the Turbulent Flame-Vortex Dynamics of Bluff-Body Premixed Flames,” Combustion and Flame, Vol. 197, 2018. (Impact Factor: 4.806)
  • AHMED, K.A. *, Wiley, A.G, “Structured light-field focusing for flowfield diagnostics,” Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, Vol. 89, 2017. (Impact Factor: 3.079)
  • Chambers, J.G/UG, AHMED, K.A. *, “Turbulent Flame Augmentation using a Fluidic Jet for Deflagration-to-Detonation,” Fuel, Vol. 199, 2017. (Impact Factor: 4.14)
  • McGarry, J. G, AHMED, K.A. *, “Flame-Turbulence Interaction of Laminar Premixed Deflagrated Flame,” Combustion and Flame, Vol. 176, 2017. (Impact Factor: 4.806)
  • Geikie, M. G, AHMED, K.A. *, “Lagrangian Mechanisms of Flame Extinction for Lean Turbulent Premixed Flames,” Fuel, Vol. 194, 2017. (Impact Factor: 4.14)
  • Geikie, M. G, Carr, Z.R., AHMED, K.A. *, Forliti, J., “On the flame-generated vorticity dynamics of bluff-body-stabilized premixed flames,” Flow, Turbulence and Combustion, Vol. 99, 2017. (Impact Factor: 1.863)
  • Chambers, J.G, AHMED, K.A. *, Poludnenko, A., “Exploration of Turbulence Driven Deflagration to Detonation of Fast Flames,” International Colloquium on the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems (ICDERS), 2017
  • Distinguished Paper Award, 37th International Symposium on Combustion, 2019
  • Associate Fellow of AIAA Award, 2019
  • S. Air Force Research Lab– Summer Faculty Fellowship Program Award, 2017
  • The American Chemical Society – Petroleum Research Fund, Doctoral New Investigator Award, 2014
  • NASA-Virginia Space Grant Consortium – New Investigator Program Award, 2014
  • The Office of Research at Old Dominion University, Summer Research Faculty Award, 2014
  • Innovator award for focusing system from the Florida State University Office of Research, 2012
  • Pratt & Whitney appreciation award, Dec. 2011
  • Innovator recognition and honoring from the Florida State University Office of Research, 2011
  • First place University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Science Poster Award, 2008
  • First place University at Buffalo Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Poster Award, 2008
  • American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2006-present
  • American Physical Society – Division of Fluid Mechanics, 2006-present
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineering, 2007-present
  • The Combustion Institute, 2007-present
  • Florida Center for Advanced Aero-Propulsion, 2009-present 
  • American Chemical Society
  • EAS 4300: Aerothermodynamics of Propulsion Systems
  • EAS 4134: High-Speed Aerodynamics
  • EML 5713: Intermediate Fluid Mechanics