The UCLA Samueli School of Engineering proudly hosted the ASME Symposium Celebrating Professor Vijay K. Dhir during the 2025 ASME Summer Heat Transfer Conference in Westminster, Colorado, recognizing his extraordinary scientific and professional contributions to the field of thermal and multiphase transport.
The event opened with welcome remarks by UCLA Samueli Dean Ah-Hyung “Alissa” Park, who commended Dhir for his lifelong dedication to research, education, and service. She highlighted his enduring impact on the engineering community through his role as dean of UCLA Engineering, a position he held from 2003 to 2016.
The symposium drew a nationwide and international audience of distinguished experts, including leading researchers from academia, industry, and government, who gathered to honor Dhir’s pioneering work and decades of leadership in boiling heat transfer, microgravity phenomena, nuclear thermal hydraulics, and energy systems. A member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, Dhir has mentored over 46 Ph.D. students, published more than 350 technical papers, and served as the principal investigator of NASA’s pool boiling experiments aboard the International Space Station.
The event underscored UCLA Engineering’s position as a global leader in engineering research and innovation, particularly in the area of thermal sciences and energy transport, where the school continues to push the frontiers of knowledge and technology.
The symposium was co-chaired by UCLA mechanical and aerospace engineering Professors Yongjie Hu and Laurent Pilon, together with Prof. Portonovo Ayyaswamy (University of Pennsylvania) and Prof. Debjyoti Banerjee (Texas A&M University), and was organized in collaboration with the ASME Heat Transfer Division.