Pegasus Professor and Trustee Chair Jayanta Kapat has been selected for the 2024 International Gas Turbine Institute’s Industrial Gas Turbine Technology Award. This honor, presented by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, recognizes the scientific or technological contributions of the recipient to the field of electric power or gas turbine machinery.
As the 2024 honoree, Kapat will be presented with a plaque at the 2024 ASME Turbo Expo in London. He also has the option of presenting a featured lecture during the event.
Kapat joined UCF in 1997 and now serves as the director of the Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research (CATER). Through the center, he has gathered a core faculty with multidisciplinary backgrounds to solve research problems related to power generation, aviation and propulsion. The center also facilitates graduate research and has seen its students placed in successful internships, fellowships and jobs.
Over the years, Kapat has earned more than $16.5 million in research funding from major engineering organizations such as NASA, Lockheed Martin and Siemens. In 2016, he secured a $68 software grant to implement new computer programs that aid in student coursework and research. He also leads a team of researchers from the University of Central Florida, Purdue University and Georgia Tech as they develop a jet engine that’s free of emissions – a project worth $10 million. He holds 12 patents for his research and has written more than 200 journal articles and conference publications.
For his efforts, Kapat was named a Pegasus Professor, the highest honor a UCF faculty member can achieve, in 2017. He was also appointed Trustee Chair in xxxx and reappointed in 2023 for a five-year term.
Kapat received his doctorate of science in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1991, his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Arizona State University in 1988 and his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1984.
- Written by Marisa Ramiccio