RESEARCH INTERESTS (1) Effects of Ignition System Parameters on Combustion Stability and Emissions from a DISI Engine (2) Measurement of Fuel Films in a Firing DISI Engine (3) On-Board Distillation of Gasoline, Reduction of Engine Friction and Wear (4) Prediction of Fuel Economy and Emissions from Hybrid Electric Vehicles (5) Use of Railplugs to Improve Ignition in Large Bore Natural Gas Engines (6) Use of Emulsified Diesel Fuel to Decrease Emissions from Highway Construction Equipment
PROF. RONALD D. MATHEWS

Dr. Matthews obtained his Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas followed by three graduate degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, culminating in 1977 with a PhD with a specialization in combustion. He joined the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas in 1980 where he established their combustion and engines research program. He is the Head of the General Motors Foundation Combustion Sciences and Automotive Research Laboratories on the UT campus. He is also the Faculty Advisor for UT's student branch of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and has been since he founded UT’s student branch in 1980. He has been involved in research in the area of combustion, engines, emissions, and alternative fuels for over 25 years. His research includes both experimental work and numerical modeling of both fundamental combustion processes and combustion within engines. His present research is focused primarily on reducing emissions from spark ignition engines, alternative diesel fuels,, the spark ignition process, and engine friction. In 1992, he received the Arch T. Colwell Merit Award from the Society of Automotive Engineers for his work on the first use of fractal geometry to model the combustion process within a spark ignition engine. This award is given to recognize outstanding contributions to knowledge. In 1996 and again in 1998, UT's body of work on fractal engine modeling was nominated for the ComputerWorld Award and selected for inclusion in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Permanent Research Collection on Information, Technology, and Society. In 2002, he received four awards from the Society of Automotive Engineers: 1) he was elected to be an SAE Fellow, 2) he received the SAE’s Excellence in Engineering Education (Triple E) Award, 3) along with two of his former PhD students (Dr. Yiqun Huang, now with Southwest Research Institute, and Dr. Terry Alger, now with Ford) and Prof. Janet Ellzey, Prof. Matthews received the Myers Award from SAE recognizing the most outstanding student-authored SAE technical paper, and 4) he was a recipient of the SAE Faculty Advisor Award. He has been a consultant to the National Academy of Sciences, Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, General Motors Corporation, Argonne National Laboratory, and many other government agencies and private companies, primarily in the engines area.

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