Rate My Professor Evgeny Shafirovich

Evgeny Shafirovich is a Professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering within the Engineering faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso. He earned a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from the Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences in 1988 and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Aerospace Propulsion Department of Moscow Aviation Institute in 1981. His career trajectory includes roles at leading institutions worldwide. From 1981 to 2000, he progressed from Engineer to Senior Scientist at the Institute of Chemical Physics and Institute of Structural Macrokinetics and Materials Science, Russian Academy of Sciences. He then served as Research Associate at the University of Notre Dame (2000-2002), Research Engineer at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Orléans, France (2002-2004), and Research Scientist at Purdue University (2004-2008). Since joining UTEP in 2008 as Research Assistant Professor, he advanced to Associate Professor in 2014 and full Professor in 2017.

Dr. Shafirovich's primary research interests encompass combustion of energetic and gas-generating materials, combustion synthesis of advanced materials for aerospace and energy applications, and utilization of space resources for sustainable space exploration. Sponsored by the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and NASA, his projects focus on aerospace propellants, functional and high-temperature materials, hydrogen production and storage, advanced space power systems, and in situ resource utilization. He has earned major awards such as the Distinguished Paper Award from The Combustion Institute (2021), Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (2013), University Faculty Marshal of Students for Fall Commencement, College of Engineering (2025), awards for supervising outstanding graduate theses (2018), excellence in student research mentoring (2016), and multiple recognitions for outstanding efforts in securing extramural funding (2012-2023). Key publications include "Fabrication, oxidation, and combustion of nanoscale magnesium diboride and tetraboride" (Combustion and Flame, 2026), "Oxidation of iron particles for energy storage: Experiments in a fluidized bed reactor and kinetic modeling" (Combustion and Flame, 2026), "A novel approach to synthesize mixed-metal oxides via direct metal combustion" (Materials Letters, 2026), "Oxidation and combustion of stabilized lithium metal powder (SLMP)" (Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 2023), and "Conceptual design of a space power system based on combustion of metals" (Journal of Propulsion and Power, 2023). His contributions have advanced combustion processes and space technologies.