Xili Duan

I am currently a member of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial Univeristy. Befor this, I was a resident engineer with Siemens Energy (2012-2014) working on combustion testing and thermal design of combustor components in gas turbines.

I received my bachelor’s degree in thermal energy and power engineering from the China University of Petroleum (UPC) in 1999. I continued at UPC for graduate research on gas combustion and received my master’s degree in chemical process machinery in 2002. In the same year, the university offered me a faculty job as a lecturer. Besides teaching thermal fluid courses, I worked on several research projects developing gas burners and high efficiency heat exchangers.

In 2004, I came to Canada for my PhD study at the University of Manitoba working on ground heat transfer and thermal protection of power transmission foundations against problems caused by seasonal freezing and thawing. In 2009 I received my PhD degree in mechanical engineering from Manitoba and at the same time received the NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship. With that I went to work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where I conducted extensive research on boiling heat transfer and multiphase flow in power generation systems.

Besides MIT and Siemens, I have worked closely with other leading energy R&D institutions and companies including the National Research Council Canada (NRC), University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and Manitoba Hydro. I have published one book chapter and over 30 research papers in the thermal fluid and energy areas. I am a registered Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).