Dr. Ellzey specializes in combustion and has been a faculty member of the Thermal/Fluid Systems area of the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering since 1990. She currently conducts research on environmental technologies such as low-emissions combustors and fuel reformers. Dr. Ellzey was the winner of the 2005 Women in Engineering Student Advocate Award and she along with her co-authors received the Best Paper Award from the 2nd International ASME Conference on Energy Sustainability in 2008. In 2004, she created International Engineering Education (IEE) which develops study abroad programs for engineering students. She led IEE in her capacity as the Associate Director of the Chair of Free Enterprise and then as Assistant Dean until 2009. From 2009 to 2017, she was Vice Provost for International Programs and head of the International Office. In 2011 she was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Alumni of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2017, she was elected to the Inaugural Class of Fellows of the Combustion Institute.

Dr. Ellzey is actively engaged in developing programs for engineering students to apply their skills to marginalized or low-income communities. In 2009 in collaboration with Dr. James T. O’Connor in Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, she launched Projects with Underserved Communities, a 3-course sequence in which teams of engineering and social work students partner with rural communities around the world to solve technical challenges. In 2017, she launched a Certificate in Humanitarian Engineering, and in 2018 she piloted a collaboration with an international humanitarian organization to design products for refugee camps.

Selected Publications

1. J.L. Ellzey, M.R. Henneke, J. M. Picone, and E.S. Oran, "The Interaction of a Shock with a Vortex: Shock Distortion and Production of Acoustic Waves", Physics of Fluids, Vol. 7, (1995), pp. 172-184
2. C.H. Smith, D.M. Leahey, L.E. Miller, J.L. Ellzey, , "Conversion of Wet Ethanol to Syngas via Filtration Combustion: An Experimental and Computational Investigation", Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, Vol. 33, (2011), pp. 3317-3324
3. M.R. Henneke and J.L. Ellzey, "Modeling of Filtrational Combustion in a Packed Bed", Combustion and Flame, Vol. 117, (1999), pp. 832-840
4. I. Schoegl and J.L. Ellzey, "A Compact Fuel Reformer to Produce Syngas from Methane", Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, Vol. 32, (2008), pp. 3223-3230

Most Recent Publications

1. D. Motes, M. Crawford, J. Ellzey, F. Stefani, and D. Wetz, “An Investigation of Internal Gas Dynamics for an Electrothermal Launcher”, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci., 39 (2), 802-808, 2011.
2. E.L. Belmont, S. Solomon, and J.L. Ellzey, “Syngas Production from Heptane in a Non-catalytic Counter-flow Reactor,” Comb. Flame, 159, 3624-3631, 2012.
3. E.L. Belmont, I. Schoegl, and J.L. Ellzey, “Experimental and Analytical Investigation of Lean Premixed Methane/Air Combustion in a Mesoscale Counter-flow Reactor”, Proceedings of the Combustion Institute (34) pp. 3361-3367, 2013.
4. C.H. Smith, D.I. Pineda, and J.L. Ellzey, “Syngas Production From Burner-Stabilized Methane/Air Flames: The Effect of Preheated Reactants”, Comb. Flame (160) pp. 557-564, 2013.
5. C.H. Smith, D.I. Pineda, C.D. Zak, and J.L. Ellzey, “Conversion of Jet Fuel and Butanol to Syngas by Filtration Combustion,” J. Hydrogen Energy (38), pp. 879-889, 2013.
6. E.L. Belmont and J.L. Ellzey, “Lean Heptane and propane combustion in a non-catalytic parallel-plate counter-flow reactor. Comb. Flame (161)pp. 1055-62, 2014.
7. M. Toledo, F. González, J. Ellzey, “Hydrogen Production from Methanol and Ethanol Partial Oxidation,” Energy and Fuels, 28, pp.3453-3459, 2014.
8. E.L. Belmont, P.P. Radyjowski, and J.L. Ellzey, “Effect of geometric scale on heat recirculation and syngas production in a non-catalytic reformer”, Combust. Sci. Tech (2014).
9. D.J. Gilbert, M.L. Held, J.L. Ellzey, W.T. Bailey, L.B. Young, “Teaching ‘community engagement’ in engineering education for international development: Integration of an interdisciplinary social work curriculum,” European Journal of Engineering Education (40), pp. 256-266, 2014.
10. E. Belmont , T. Ombrello , M. Brown , C. Carter , J. Ellzey, “Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Freely Propagating Flames Stabilized on a Hencken Burner,” Comb. Flame (162) pp.2679-2685, 2015.