Damena Agonafer

Dr. Damena Agonafer is an Associate Professor & Clark Faculty Fellow in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research focuses on nanoscale energy interfacial transport, particularly in thermal management of electronics, renewable energy systems, and phase change materials. He holds a PhD from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford University under Prof. Ken Goodson. His work bridges thermal-fluid sciences, materials engineering, and energy storage, targeting applications like high-powered electronics cooling, battery thermal management, and HVAC efficiency improvements.

Education:

• PhD, Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• MSc, Carnegie Mellon University
• BSc, University of Texas at Arlington

Research Interests:

• Interfacial transport phenomena at micro-/nano scales
• Thermochemical and electrochemical energy storage
• Phase change heat transfer materials
• Data center cooling and power electronics thermal management

Awards:

• NSF CAREER Award
• ASME Early Career Award
• Google Research Award
• 2021 National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Symposium Participant

Advising & Grants:

• Recipient of UMD's $3.5M ARPA-E COOLERCHIPS Award for data center cooling
• Lead on NSF-funded projects exploring evaporative cooling mechanisms
• Mentor in a NSF-funded research mentoring program for underrepresented students

Labs & Teams:

• Director of the Nanoscale Energy Interfacial Transport Lab
• Collaborations with industry partners like Cisco and Google