Rate My Professor Nesrin Ozalp

Nesrin Ozalp serves as the Founding Department Chair and Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering at Illinois State University, a position she has held since August 2023. She earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington and her M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. Previously, Ozalp was Professor and Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Purdue University Northwest from 2019 to 2023. Earlier in her career, she held faculty positions including Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University at Qatar and was a Full Professor by Courtesy at Purdue University's School of Mechanical Engineering in West Lafayette.

Ozalp's research focuses on clean energy technologies, with specializations in solar thermochemical reactors, hydrogen production using solar energy, and emission-free fuel generation systems. As principal investigator, she has secured funding for research projects exceeding $5 million. Key innovations include a patent-pending gas turbine that combines solar energy utilization, natural gas conversion, and supersonic operation to produce hydrogen while generating power; she filed a related patent on clean hydrogen production in November 2023. Selected publications encompass "Dual Actuator Control Strategy for Temperature Stability in Solar Receivers" (ASME Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 2025), "Special issue on heat and mass transfer in frost and ice" (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 2025), "Effect of Particle Type on Cyclone Formation Inside a Solar Reactor" (Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering, 2016), and "A new approach for fuel injection into a solar receiver/reactor" (Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering, 2018). Ozalp is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Society of Thermal Fluid Engineers (ASTFE), served as past chair of the ASME Solar Energy Division Executive Committee, and received the 2022 Yellott Award from the ASME Solar Energy Division. She actively involves students in experimental research, patent development, and industry partnerships to advance sustainable energy solutions for transportation, industry, and space exploration.