Article by Raheena Abdurehim

Appointment Announcement: Prof. James Turner to join the Clean Combustion Research Center at KAUST. 

We are pleased to announce that Prof. James Turner has formally accepted the position of Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Clean Combustion Research Center, KAUST. 

Prof. Turner is currently Professor of Engines and Energy Systems in the Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsions Systems at the University of Bath, United Kingdom. Before joining Bath his career was spent in the automotive industry, primarily at Lotus Engineering, where he led Powertrain Research for ten years. 

His interests are primarily in engines and powertrains of all types and the decarbonisation of the fuels that they use.  He is a Fellow of both the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and is the current Chairman of the Universities' Internal Combustion Engines Group (UnICEG) in the UK.  He has also contributed to many forums and committees concerned with engines and fuels.  He has written or co-authored over 120 papers and book chapters, and in 2014 he won the SAE's Harry L. Horning and Arch T. Colwell Awards for research into fuel octane response in highly-boosted engines.

"I am very excited about working collaboratively with the world-leading researchers at CCRC and to perform leading-edge research to help decarbonize transportation.  I have a great deal of knowledge of automotive needs and requirements and I hope to use this to enable my research to be relevant both to industry and academia, and thus to benefit society and the environment.  I am looking forward to all of the opportunities and collaborations that will be possible when I am part of CCRC, which is the pre-eminent research group for such work" stated Prof. Turner. 

"My main goals after joining CCRC are:

• To establish KAUST as the key research hub in the use of hydrogen for propulsion in transportation;
• To investigate novel energy conversion approaches and how they interact with hybrid systems;
• To pursue research promoting the use of e-fuels to decarbonize transportation;
• To develop multi-disciplinary programs to enhance the penetration rate of renewable energy in transportation through the ability to blend optimized liquid e-fuels with existing fossil formulations.

In doing all of this I hope to make a meaningful contribution to ensuring society's continued access to transportation in an ultra-low carbon future." He added.

He will be officially joining the center in February. Join us in welcoming Prof. Turner to the CCRC and KAUST community.