The National Academy of Engineering announced today the election of UC Irvine’s Said Elghobashi to membership. A professor in the mechanical & aerospace engineering department of The Henry Samueli School of Engineering, he is among 67 new members and 11 foreign associates inducted for 2014. His citation reads: “For pioneering contributions to the fundamental understanding and modeling of multiphase turbulent flows with characterization of key physical mechanisms.” The goal of Elghobashi’s work is to predict turbulent flows laden with particles or droplets – the flow inside a jet engine combustor, for example – using computer simulations. His leadership in the area has been recognized for decades. Elghobashi’s early work influenced the standard commercial CFD computer codes in the field; his more recent work is setting future trends. “It’s a good feeling to know that your peers have read your work and then voted to bestow this honor,” he said. “I woke up this morning to about 50 emails from around the world.” Elghobashi arrived at UC Irvine in 1978, before mechanical & aerospace engineering existed as a department. “It’s hard to remember 35 years ago, when I first came to UCI,” he said. “There were mostly cows, and there were no computers.” Known for his vision, emphasis on quality, exactness and attention to detail, Elghobashi helped lead curricula development and faculty recruitment in the area and ultimately served as chair of the department for five years. “What I’m most proud of with this recognition is that Said is organic to UC Irvine,” said Samueli School Dean Gregory Washington. “He exemplifies what this university is all about. He took a chance when coming here 35 years ago, and he is as much responsible for its success as any senior administrator.” Elghobashi joins three other mechanical & aerospace engineering faculty members in NAE: Satya Atluri, Distinguished Professor; William Sirignano, professor; and Robert Liebeck, adjunct professor. Seven other UCI-affiliated NAE members are Nicolaos Alexopoulos, Alfredo H. Ang, Michael Carey, Henry Samueli, Masanobu Shinozuka, Soroosh Sorooshian and Kumar Wickramasinghe.