Two UCLA Engineering Professors Receive 2021 ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award

Laurent Pilon and Wilbur “Webb” Marner


Professor Laurent Pilon (left) and adjunct professor Wilbur “Webb” Marner (right)

Aug 23, 2021

UCLA Samueli Newsroom
ASME Heat Transfer Memorial AwardProfessor Laurent Pilon and adjunct professor Wilbur “Webb” Marner of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have been awarded the 2021 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Heat Transfer Memorial Award.

The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of heat transfer through teaching, research, practice and design or a combination of such activities. One recipient is selected every year in each of the following heat transfer categories: science, art and the general subject of heat transfer.

Laurent Pilon
Pilon, who also has a faculty appointment in bioengineering at UCLA Samueli, is being recognized by ASME in the science category for his “seminal and interdisciplinary contributions to the field of heat transfer, combined with interfacial phenomena, materials science and electrochemistry and for the development of sustainable energy technologies.”

Pilon leads the Morrin-Martinelli-Gier Memorial Heat Transfer Laboratory at UCLA. The lab researches radiation transfer, thermal sciences and transport phenomena in a wide range of energy applications, including energy storage systems, materials for energy efficient buildings and processes for photobiological production of molecules and materials.

An ASME fellow and a member of the Scientific Council of the International Center for Heat and Mass Transfer, Pilon has also received several other prestigious awards, including a 2005 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation and a 2008 ASME Young Investigator Award in Heat Transfer.

Webb Marner
Marner is recognized in the general heat transfer award category for his “extensive, exemplary contributions to ASME, the society’s Heat Transfer Division and the thermal science community through technical experience in industry, academia and government.”

Since 1991, Marner has taught thermal science and system design courses at UCLA. Previously, he worked at Heat Transfer Research, Inc. and Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he focused on energy-related research and development.

Marner has authored or co-authored more than 60 archival papers and technical reports and is a co-inventor of two patents. In 2019, Marner received ASME’s emeritus membership certification in recognition of his contributions to the organization for more than 50 years in numerous capacities.

Founded in 1880, ASME is a nonprofit professional organization that helps the global engineering community develop solutions to real-world challenges through its collaboration, knowledge sharing and skill development across all engineering disciplines, while promoting the vital role of the engineer in society.

The award presentation will take place from Nov. 1 to Nov. 5 at the Heat Transfer Award Meeting during the 2021 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition virtual conference.

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