Sengers to Receive International Service Award

Distinguished University Professor Emeritus Jan Sengers (Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering [ChBE] and Institute for Physical Science & Technology [IPST]) has been selected as the recipient of the 2008 Office of International Programs Distinguished International Service Award. The award, which recognizes significant contributions to the development of international programs at the university, will be presented by university president C.D. Mote, Jr. at a ceremony to be held November 5.

Sengers began his career at Maryland in 1968, when he joined the Institute for Molecular Physics (later IPST) and became an affiliate professor of both chemical and mechanical engineering. He was the director of the Chemical Physics Program from 1978-1985 and the Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering (later ChBE) from 1994-1999. In 1997 he was named a Distinguished University Professor.

Sengers is internationally recognized for both his research and contributions to the improvement of engineering education. As a doctoral student in the early 1960s, he made a major discovery that set the standard–still in use today–for the measurement and calculation of the thermal conductivity of fluids. An expert in the fields of experimental and theoretical thermodynamics and the statistical physics of soft condensed matter, he is an elected follow of the American Physical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, and the World Innovation Foundation. His most recent book, (co-authored with Jose M. Ortiz de Zarate), Hydrodynamic Fluctuations in Fluids and Fluid Mixtures (Elsevier, 2006), is the first comprehensive treatment of the topic.

In addition to his decades of experience as a professor, his education-related activities include a comprehensive comparison of physics and astronomy curricula in European countries to those in the United States, resulting in a significant structural change in how science and engineering degrees are granted in a number of European nations. In 2000, along with wife Anneke, he established the Jan and Anneke Sengers Fellowship Fund to support doctoral students ChBE.

Published October 23, 2008