Ethan Meitz

  • Program Year: 2
  • Academic Institution: Carnegie Mellon University
  • Field of Study: Molecular Simulation and Heat Transfer
  • Academic Advisor: Gerald Wang and Alan McGaughey
  • Practicum(s):
    Argonne National Laboratory (2024)
  • Degree(s):
    M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, 2022; B.S Mechanical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, 2021
  • Personal URL: http://ethanmeitz.com

Summary of Research

Liquids are an essential component of energy storage and generation technologies due to their ability to transport mass, heat, and momentum efficiently. The multi-functional thermal properties of liquids like R134a, water, and thermo-oils make them ideal choices for energy infrastructure applications. However, as climate change necessitates more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient infrastructure, many of these liquids will need to be replaced with sustainable alternatives. Due to the combinatorially large search space of new molecules, a computational approach is required to supplement and inform experiments. Molecular simulation tools are increasingly accurate and effective tools for predicting material properties; however, many liquid properties like heat capacity and thermal conductivity lack the nanoscale description required to calculate them from a molecular simulation. Liquids pose a unique challenge because their molecules are not bound to a lattice site (like in a solid) and do not weakly interact (like in a gas). My research aims to create physically-grounded and predictive models for liquid thermophysical properties to accelerate the design and validation of multi-functional liquids.

Publications

Co-author on "The Effect of Matrix Properties on Transmission and Reflectance Mode Division-of-Focal-Plane Stokes Polarimetry"

Awards

Magna Cum Laude from Washington University in St. Louis 2021
Summer Undergraduate Research Award (SURA) 2020