Prof. Arthur E. Bergles

Arthur E. Bergles is the recipient of the ITherm 2002 Achievement Award for his pioneering research and experimentation in thermal control of electronic components and the dissemination of his findings worldwide.

During a career spanning over four decades, Dr. Bergles has made seminal and pioneering contributions to the thermal management of electrical, electronic and microelectronic equipment, from electromagnets to microchips. Recognized worldwide as a leader in the field of thermal science and engineering, his recent research interests include heat transfer enhancement, two-phase flow and boiling/evaporation heat transfer, internal laminar flows and cooling of microelectronic equipment.

After receiving his Ph. D., Professor Bergles served on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge (1962-69), in positions including Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Chairman of the Engineering Projects Laboratory and Associate Director of the Heat Transfer Laboratory. He was a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta (1970-72), before joining Iowa State University, Ames. While at Iowa State University, he was Professor and Chairman in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (1972-83). In 1981 he was named the Anson Marston Distinguished Professor of Engineering. He established the Heat Transfer Laboratory in 1972 and directed it until 1986.

In 1986, Professor Bergles became the Clark and Crossan Professor of Engineering and the Director of the Heat Transfer Laboratory at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). He was Dean of Engineering at RPI from 1989 to 1992. He is now the Clark and Crossan Professor Emeritus at RPI, and holds appointments at the: University of Maryland and MIT. He supervised 81 theses during his academic career.

Professor Bergles held visiting positions at the University of Hanover and the Technical University of Munich in Germany, the Danish Technical University and the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He also has held several industrial positions, and has been a consultant to over 50 industrial organizations, universities and governmental agencies.

While at MIT, Professor Bergles developed strategies for the thermal control of high-field electromagnets at the National Magnet Laboratory. Subsequently he conduced research and consulted for Digital Equipment Corporation, IBM Corporation, and Raytheon Company.

An ASME Fellow, Professor Bergles served as the Chairman of several committees of the ASME Heat Transfer Division, as Associate Editor of the Journal of Heat Transfer and as Chair of the Division. He was Vice President for Professional Development, a two-term Governor of the Society and was the 1990-91 ASME President. Subsequently, he became a member of the ASME Foundation Board of Directors, Chair of the Committee of Past Presidents (CPP) and Chairman of the Leadership Development Initiative Subcommittee of the CPP.

Dr. Bergles was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (1992) and is a Foreign Member of the Royal Academy of Engineering, U.K. (2000). He is also a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts, Slovenia (2001). He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE); the International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer (ICHMT); and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). He is also an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and a Member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).

Professor Bergles has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards. These include: ASME Medal (2000); AIChE’s Donald Q. Kern Award (1990); AIChE’s and ASME’s Max Jakob Award (1995); ASEE’s Lamme Medal (1987) and Centennial Certificate and Medallion (1993); ASHRAE’s Distinguished Service Award (1996); F. Paul Anderson Medal (2000); Holladay Distinguished Fellow Award (2002); ASME’s Heat Transfer Memorial Award (1979), Dedicated Service Award (1984), 50th Anniversary Award of the Heat Transfer Division (1988) and Honorary Membership (1996); ICHMT’s Luikov Medal (1998); and the Nusselt-Reynolds Prize from the Assembly of World Conferences of Experimental Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics (2001).

Professor Bergles has published more than 350 technical papers, 28 books and over 100 technical reports, and has presented 325 invited lectures at national and international conferences. He serves on the editorial advisory board of 15 international thermal science journals.

Professor Bergles earned all his degrees from MIT. He also received the honorary degree Doutor Honoris Causa from the University of Oporto, Portugal, in 1998, and D. Ing. (Honoris Causa) from Rand Afrikaans University, South Africa, in 1999. He was made an Honorary Professor of Beijing Polytechnic University, China, in 2001. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and holds two patents.

Art and his wife, Penny live in Centerville on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. She was a computer systems analyst for many years, and more recently was an income tax preparer. They have two sons Eric and Dwight. Eric is a marketing manager with an optoelectronics firm in Fremont, California. Dwight is an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. Both sons are married, and Art and Penny have three grandsons.