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Dr. Andrew Gerhart
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Dr. Gerhart, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, joined the faculty of Lawrence Technological University’s Mechanical Engineering Department in 2002. His main area of interest is the Thermal-Fluid Sciences concentrating on experimental fluid mechanics & heat flow as well as power generation. Dr. Gerhart received his Master’s degree in 1998 from the University of Wyoming. He received his Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM.
Prior to joining LTU, Dr. Gerhart spent four years at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico studying large-scale buoyant flow and boundary layer structure with innovative optical techniques. Prior to his time in New Mexico, he was funded for two years by the Department of Energy while developing a solids flow meter and an axial flow solids separator for circulating fluidized beds. He co-lead the design of a hydrogen mitigation system for a vacuum induction melt furnace. Dr. Gerhart spent a year at Black and Veatch in Kansas City working with power plant design & feasibility and coal load studies. He has multiple papers published by ASEE, ASME, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, among others, and has reviewed books for national publishers.
Dr. Gerhart is the director of the Thermal Science Laboratory and Coordinator of the new Energy and Environmental Management Program. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and serves on their Performance Test Codes Committee for Air-Cooled Condensers. He is the faculty advisor for the LTU student section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, for the Society of Automotive/Aeronautical Engineering Aero Design student competition team, and for the National Hydropower competition team. He was also one of the advisors for the 2005 Detroit to Pittsburgh Canoe Expedition. Dr. Gerhart is a member of and actively involved with the American Society for Engineering Education. In addition, he serves on the Engineering Society of Detroit’s Young Engineers Council and the Experts Bureau Committee.
In 2005, Dr. Gerhart was awarded Outstanding Young Engineer of the Year by the Engineering Society of Detroit. His 2005 paper, “K-12 Summer Engineering Outreach Programs – Curriculum Comparisons Between Ages, Minorities, and Genders,” was nominated as Best Division Paper at the 2005 ASEE Annual Conference. He is the recipient of a 2004-05 Kern Faculty Incentive Grant for research with Turbine Technologies, Ltd.