Janet Ellzey

Dr. Janet Ellzey is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and holds the Engineering Foundation Centennial Teaching Fellowship at The University of Texas at Austin. From 2009 to 2017, she was Vice Provost of International Programs. In this position, she managed a staff of more than 150 and a budget of $25M. Prior to joining the Provost's office in 2009, she developed international programs for the Cockrell School of Engineering as assistant dean for international engineering education. She has conducted research in the field of combustion for more than 30 years.

As the first Director of Humanitarian Engineering, she is building and leading an academic program focused on engineering solutions for low-income or marginalized communities. She oversees the Certificate in Humanitarian Engineering which she launched in 2017. She developed and leads Projects with Underserved Communities, a three-course sequence in which student teams partner with rural communities around the world to build small infrastructure projects such as latrines, community kitchens, and health centers. PUC has completed more than 40 projects in 8 countries. She developed Humanitarian Product Development, a formal collaboration with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in which student teams enroll in a two-course sequence and design products for use in humanitarian response. She is currently developing a partnership with the Uganda Red Cross Society and Makerere University in Kampala Uganda to establish an Innovation Lab where undergraduate students will develop technologies appropriate for refugee camps in that country. In 2022-23 with Dr. Julie Zuniga from the School of Nursing, Dr. Ellzey won her second President's Award for Global Learning, a university-wide program to address global challenges. Along with Dr. Zuniga, she taught a course to 14 students selected competitively for the program, oversaw the development of their innovations, and accompanied them to Kenya to demonstrate their projects.

Dr. Ellzey earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and her doctoral degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. She joined the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin in 1990.

Dr. Ellzey earned the Women in Engineering Student Advocate Award in 2005 and in 2011 she was elected to the Academy of Distinguished Alumni in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. She has held research fellowships in both France and the United Kingdom. In 2018, she was elected as an Inaugural Fellow of the Combustion Institute. She was the Russell Springer Severence Professor at University of California at Berkeley in 2019. During 2020-21 she was a Jefferson Science Fellow at the United States Agency for International Development.
 

Selected Publications

1. P.P. Radyjowski, J.L. Ellzey, “Experimental Study on the Influence of Gas-Solid Heat Transfer in a Mesoscale Counterflow Combustor,” Comb. Sci. Tech. Nov 2021 https://doi.org/10.1080/00102202.2021.2003792
2. P.P. Radyjowski, I. Schoegl, and J. L. Ellzey, “Experimental and Analytical Investigation of a Counterflow Reactor at Lean Conditions,” Comb. Sci. Tech. May 2021, DOI: 10.1080/00102202.2021.1938017.
3. J.L. Ellzey, E.L. Belmont, C.H. Smith, “Heat Recirculating Reactors: Fundamental Research and Applications,” Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, vol. 72, May 2019 pp. 32-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecs.2018.12.001
4. J.L. Ellzey, J.T. O’Connor, and J. Westerman, “Projects with Underserved Communities: A Case Study of an International Service Learning Program,” Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 145(2), 2019.
5. 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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2015.03.025
6. 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 DOI: 10.1080/03043797.2014.944103
7. 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), http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00102202.2014.978864 .
8. M. Toledo, F. González, J. Ellzey, “Hydrogen Production from Methanol and Ethanol Partial Oxidation,” Energy and Fuels, 28, pp.3453-3459, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1021/ef500352v
9. 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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2013.10.026
10. 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. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2012.10.102,
11. 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. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2012.10.022.
12. 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. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.proci.2012.06.087