In Memoriam: Professor Essam E. Khalil —A Tribute to An Outstanding Educator and Researcher

On Wednesday, September 7, 2022, we were deeply saddened to hear that Professor Essam E. Khalil passed away at the age of 74. Professor Khalil was born on July 12, 1948, in Scotland, United Kingdom, and through his extensive career, he became one of the most respected educators/researchers in Egypt in the field of mechanical engineering. He received his B.Sc. and M.S. degrees in July 1971 and December 1973, respectively, from the Department of Mechanical Power Engineering of Cairo University. He then joined the Imperial College of Science and Technology where he received his Ph.D. in February 1977 under the supervision of Professor James Hunter Whitelaw. His dissertation is titled “Flow, Combustion and Heat Transfer in Axisymmetric Furnaces.” After finishing his Ph.D., Professor Khalil obtained a postdoctoral fellowship with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell, UK. After his fellowship, he returned to Egypt as an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Power Engineering at Cairo University. He was promoted to Associate Professor and Professor in 1982 and 1988, respectively. During his academic career, Professor Khalil supervised many master’s and Ph.D. students in the areas of heat transfer, turbulent combustion, air distribution in buildings, and sustainability. Several of his past Ph.D. students became professors at different universities. Professor Khalil published over 950 papers in journals, conference proceedings, book chapters, and books. Some of his publications are listed in Refs [1–5]. His 1983 paper with Professors D. Brian Spalding and James H. Whitelaw titled “The Calculation of Local Flow Properties in Two-Dimensional Furnaces” was his most cited paper [6].

During his academic career, Professor Khalil served as an editorial board member for Advances in Mechanical Engineering and the International Journal of Thermal and Environmental Engineering. He was a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME); the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA); and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). He was the Regional Director for ASHRAE in the Middle East and North Africa and served on the ASHRAE Board of Directors as Director-at-Large from 2016 to 2019. He served as a Convener for ISO/TC205 WG2 on Energy Efficiency and as a Convenor for ISO/TC163 WG4 on Thermal Performance and Energy Use in the Built Environment. He was an ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer and an Authorized Instructor for ASME. He also served as an ABET program evaluator (PEV). He was a member of the AIAA Green Engineering Program Committee as well as the AIAA Thermophysics Technical Committee, the AIAA Terrestrial Energy Systems Technical Committee, and the AIAA Gas Turbine Engines Technical Committee.

The scientific contributions of Professor Khalil spanned many areas and have been recognized by many honors and awards. These include the Decor of Science and Arts of the First Order from former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (1981), the National Award for Scientific Achievement in Engineering Sciences (1981), Member of L’Institut D’Egypte (2007), ASHRAE Presidential Award of Excellence (2009), ASHRAE Chapter Service Award (2009), ASME Westinghouse Gold Medal (2009), AIAA Energy Systems Award (2010), ASHRAE Regional Award of Merit (2010), AIAA Sustained Service Award (2011), ASHRAE Distinguished Service Award (2011), ASME James Harry Potter Gold Medal (2012), University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Distinguished Lecture Award (2013), ASME Egypt Achievement Award (2013), Syndicate of Egyptian Engineers Award of Excellence (2016), ASHRAE Exceptional Service Award (2017), and multiple Awards of Excellence from Cairo University.

It is difficult to find appropriate words to express our emotions at this wistful moment. The scientific community will remember Professor Khalil as a prolific and exceptional scientist, mentor, teacher, and a highly respected colleague. He will also be remembered for his exceptional character as a human being who cared about his family, friends, students, and professional colleagues. Figures 1 through 5 show some memorable pictures of Professor Khalil with different colleagues, students, and friends. He will be sorely missed by all of us.