معرفی
Laura Schaefer is the Burton J. and Ann M. McMurtry Chair in Engineering and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Rice University's George R. Brown School of Engineering. She joined Rice in 2015 after serving as faculty at the University of Pittsburgh from 2000–2015, where she held roles including Deputy Director of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation and Associate Director of the Center for Energy. Her research focuses on energy systems optimization, sustainability, and thermofluid modeling, with $11M+ in funding from NSF, AFOSR, and others.
Education includes a B.S./B.A. in Mechanical Engineering/English from Rice (1995) and M.S./Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech (1997/2000). She has held visiting roles at Imperial College London (2011–2012) and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments. Awards include NSF Career Award and ASHRAE recognition, alongside ASME Fellowship.
Research spans energy efficiency, solar-thermal integration, and advanced heat transfer techniques. She leads the Energy Systems Lab at Rice, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to sustainable energy challenges. Her work combines computational methods (e.g., lattice Boltzmann modeling) with real-world applications in renewable energy systems, heat pumps, and thermal storage.
Key grants and projects include NSF-funded studies on hybrid energy systems and ASHRAE-supported innovations. She collaborates on dynamic life cycle assessments for buildings and has pioneered smart insulation technologies. Her portfolio reflects a balance between fundamental science and societal/environmental impact.
