HOUSTON, May 16, 2007 Fazle Hussain will need a larger trophy room as this year's recipient of the University of Houston's highest faculty honor.

Already one of the most decorated scholars in his field, Hussain now can add the 2007 Esther Farfel Award to his list of accomplishments. The award brings with it a $10,000 cash prize and an acknowledgement of overall career excellence.

Coming to the United States from Bangladesh as a Fulbright Scholar in 1965 and joining UH in 1971, Hussain is the Hugh Roy & Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering. As a fluid dynamicist, he has won all four of the field's most coveted awards granted by the American Physical Society, American Society of Mechanical Engineers and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He also has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

He focuses primarily on the search for 'order within disorder' in fluid turbulence. His interests include aircraft drag and reduction for lower fuel consumption and pollution, as well as abetting wake hazard to reduce aircraft separation during takeoff and landing a major problem at busy airports. Additional studies he is involved with include cardiovascular dynamics, cell mechanics, nanomechanics and energy.

"As the only individual to be awarded all four major prizes in the field of fluid dynamics, Hussain is the world's most celebrated scholar in the area of fluid mechanics and turbulence studies," wrote a UH colleague in an endorsement letter.

Leading the Aerodynamics and Turbulence Laboratory at UH, Hussain was one of the first to recognize that the organized motion underlying the seemingly random motion of turbulence is the key to understanding and controlling it for technological benefits.

A colleague from another university wrote in a letter of support that Hussain is "one of the top five experimental turbulence researchers in
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Contact: Lisa Merkl
lkmerkl@uh.edu
713-743-8192
University of Houston
16-May-2007