UIC honors Kenneth Brezinsky with distinguished professor appointment
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Kenneth Brezinsky, James P. Hartnett Professor in Energy Engineering, received one of the university’s highest faculty honors when he was recently named a UIC Distinguished Professor by the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs.
The professorship was created to recruit and recognize faculty members who have made a significant impact in their field through scholarship, creativity, and leadership.
“Professor Brezinsky is one of the leading combustion scientists of his generation,” Professor and Department Head Houshang Darabi said. “He is an internationally recognized authority in combustion chemistry and chemical kinetics whose scholarship, leadership, and impact on the field place him among the most distinguished researchers in his discipline worldwide.”
Brezinsky has excelled on many fronts. As the director of the High-Pressure Shock Tube Lab, he focuses his research on experimental examination and modeling of the kinetics of combustion chemistry during the pyrolysis and oxidation of hydrocarbon fuels, which are used in aircraft engines and ground transportation.
He has received more than $22 million in government funding from numerous agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Army Research Office, and the Army Research Laboratory.
He has graduated 16 PhD students and 24 MS students, supervised eight postdoctoral associates, and mentored 25 undergraduate researchers. His mentorship produces leaders who shape the discipline in academia, national laboratories, and industry, with former students holding positions at Argonne National Laboratory, BASF, Convergent Science, Fiat-Chrysler, Gas Technology Institute, and Exponent.
Brezinsky received his BS degree in chemistry and a PhD in physical chemistry from the City College of New York. After finishing his graduate work, he joined the chemistry department of Brookhaven National Laboratory as a postdoctoral research associate.
He joined UIC in 1996 as a professor of chemical engineering, and, in 2003, he moved to mechanical and industrial engineering as a professor. In 2024, he was named a James P. Hartnett Professor in Energy Engineering.
Brezinsky has published more than 200 publications and made more than 170 scientific presentations. He is the book editor and contributing author of Combustion Chemistry and the Carbon Neutral Future: What Will the Next 25 Years of Research Require?, a volume in the Elsevier book series Developments in Physical & Theoretical Chemistry, 2023. He has been recognized for his contributions to combustion science by his designation as an inaugural fellow of the Combustion Institute.