Jacqueline Chen, Ph.D. was inducted into the Science, Technology, Engineering Category in 2016.
Jacqueline Chen, known to friends and colleagues as Jackie, is a Distinguished Technical Staff member at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore and a pioneer in using ultra-fast supercomputers in the study of combustion. A mechanical engineer by training, Jackie’s work at Sandia's Combustion Research Facility focuses on understanding how the rapid mixing of air and fuel during combustion – necessary for compact and efficient automobile engines and other practical combustion devices – impacts the range of stable operating conditions and the formation of pollutants. Jackie combines mathematics, fluid dynamics and complex chemistry in high-fidelity combustion simulations performed on some of the world's fastest supercomputers to gain physical insights that are encapsulated in simpler, engineering models. These models are in turn used by industry to design more fuel efficient, cleaner-burning vehicles, airplanes and power plants. The work is also helping to advance the understanding of how alternative fuels can be used most effectively and improve the efficiency of combustion engines. Current research is focused on new approaches to combustion that may allow engines to operate up to 50 percent more efficiently than current technology - helping to lessen reliance on fossil fuels and to diminish the environmental impacts related to their use.
