Ahmed Ghoniem

Ahmed Ghoniem is the Ronald C. Crane Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, Director of the Center for Energy and Propulsion Research, and leader of the Reacting Gas Dynamics Laboratory. He holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Cairo University (1973, 1975) and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (1980). His research focuses on energy conversion, combustion dynamics, multi-phase flow, and CO2 capture technologies.

His recent work emphasizes multi-scale simulations for oxy-combustion, chemical looping, and ion transport membranes, with applications to low-carbon power generation and renewable fuel production. Articles highlight computational fluid dynamics (CFD), supercritical fluid interactions, and reactor design optimization for biomass and coal gasification.

Scientific awards include the

• 2024 Bernard Lewis Gold Medal
• 2016 AIAA Propellent and Combustion Award
• 2015 ASME James Harry Potter Award in Thermodynamics
• KAUST Investigator Award (2008-2013)

His work is funded by the US DOE, ONR, AFOSR, BP, ENEL, Bosch, Ford, KAUST, MASDAR, and KFUPM. He has mentored over 100 graduate and postdoctoral students and holds multiple patents in combustion instability suppression and carbon capture systems.