Departmental Seminar: Scalable Thermal Energy Engineering Technologies

Prof. Shannon Yee directs the Scalable Thermal Energy Engineering Lab (STEEL) at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the G.W.W. School of Mechanical Engineering.  His laboratory focuses on direct thermal energy conversion and thermal transport technologies, translating fundamental science into application.  The thermal conversion technologies that STEEL currently focusses on are: (i) polymer-based thermoelectrics, (ii) thermo-electrochemical converters, specifically sodium ion heat engines and redox flow coolers, (iii) mass manufacturable thermoelectric technologies, and (iv) betavoltaic energy converters.  The thermal transport technologies that STEEL currently focusses on include optothermal and electrothermal techniques primarily used for in-plane and polymer thermal conductivity measurements.  Prof. Yee also co-directs the Heat Lab, which aspires to be the global center of excellence in thermal measurements, simulations, and innovation.  The Heat Lab is a user facility training graduate students in a suite a thermal property measurement techniques and providing thermal expertise to solve pressing thermal problems facing industry.  This overview seminar will provide a high-level introduction to the research topics, discoveries, and technologies coming out of the STEEL and the Heat Lab under Prof. Yee’s guidance.  This seminar is structured as a choose-your-own-adventure across numerous topics based on audience interest.  The underlying motivation across these topics stems from global electrification, global cooling, and electrifying transportation. The most popular topics cover: (a) air-stable metal-coordinated n-type polymer thermoelectrics, a best in-class n-type polymer thermoelectrics, (b) thermal transport in amorphous polymers, empirical observations of propagons and diffusons, and (c) thermoelectric and thermo-electrochemical converters, opportunities for improved generator and cooler efficiency. 

About the Speaker

SHANNON YEE is an Assistant Professor at the G.W.W. School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Yee joined Georgia Tech in January of 2014 directly from his PhD at the University of California Berkeley where he studied under Prof. Arun Majumdar, Prof. Rachel Segalman, and Prof. Chris Dames.  In the midst of his studies in 2010, he joined the US. Dept. of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) during its inaugural year as the first ARPA-E Fellow.  Dr. Yee completed his MS in Nuclear Engineering in 2008 and his BS in Mechanical Engineering in 2007 both from The Ohio State University under the guidance of Prof. Vish Subramaniam. He currently holds a visiting scientist position at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and works within the Physics directorate.  In 2008, he was awarded a prestigious Hertz Fellowship, which supported his graduate studies.  In 2015, Dr. Yee was selected for an AFOSR Young Investigator Award.  Dr. Yee is the recipient of the 2017 ASME Pi-Tau-Sigma Gold Medal award for outstanding contributions to Mechanical Engineering since graduation. 

Hosted by Professor Shaurya Prakash