Theodosios Alexander

Theodosios Alexander (aka T. Korakianitis)
Born	Theodosios Korakianitis Athens, Greece
Institutions	Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology
Alma mater	Sc.D. (Mechanical Engineering) (MIT, 1987), S.M. (Mechanical Engineering) (MIT, 1987), S.M. (Ocean Systems Management) (MIT, 1987), S.M. (Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering) (MIT, 1982), B.Sc. (Marine Engineering) (University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1981)
Notable awards	UK NHS Innovator of the Year Award (2008, 2009)

Theodosios Alexander, Sc.D., is the Dean of Saint Louis University’s Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology.^[1][2] In 2001, Alexander moved from the United States to the United Kingdom and changed his legal name from Theodosios Korakianitis to Theodosios Alexander because people had difficulty pronouncing his family name. Today, he uses both names professionally but publishes as "T. Korakianitis."

Education

Graduating with a First Class Honors Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Engineering from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1981, Alexander went on to complete three Master of Science degrees in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Ocean Systems Management, and Mechanical Engineering, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). These were followed by a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering, which he also received from MIT.

Career

In 1988, Alexander joined the Mechanical Engineering department at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri where he taught until 2001.^[3] From there he moved to the UK and was the James Watt Professor of Thermodynamics at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom until 2006. At the University of Glasgow, he developed two laboratories: in emerging energy technologies and in power and propulsion. From February 2006 until August 2012 he served as Chair of Energy Engineering at Queen Mary, University of London. Alexander was appointed Dean of Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology in September 2012, where he is also a Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering as well as Biomedical Engineering.

Alexander has worked for Hellenic Shipyards Co., U.S. Navy Consultants John J. McMullen & Associates in Washington D.C., at the Northern Research and Engineering Corporation, at McDonnell Douglass Corp. and the The Boeing Company on propulsion-system studies. He remains active in numerous international consulting activities.

Research

Alexander’s research career has focused on thermal/fluid sciences and applications on the design of power and propulsion systems, energy conversion systems, renewable energy and engineering systems and components. He also conducts research on unsteady thermo-fluid dynamics and unsteady transport phenomena within those areas, the performance of turbomachinery and airfoils, a novel method to predict gas turbine and piston engine emissions, development of a novel Nutating disc engine for unmanned aerial vehicles and on fluid-dynamic modeling of the cardiovascular system, and development of mechanical circulatory support devices.^[4]

Alexander holds two patents on biomedical devices, is co-author of a textbook on turbomachinery design and has published more than 120 research papers.

Honors and awards

The UK National Health Service (NHS) Innovations Program awarded Alexander with the Innovator of the Year Award in 2008 and 2009 for his personal research on mechanical circulatory support devices,^[5] and actively pursues the development and commercialization of these devices in St. Louis.

His work is a paradigm shift in cardiac assist devices promising to change medical practices in the field. The outcome of this research has implications for the quality of life of patients, for their caregivers, and financial advantages for the long-term provision of medical care to these patients.

Professional memberships and associations

• American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
• American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
• Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE International)
• Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society

Notable publications

• Korakianitis, T.; Hamakhan, I.A.; Reznaienia, M.A.; Wheeler, A.P.S.; Avital, E.J.; Williams, J.J.R. (January 2012). "Design of high-efficiency turbomachinery blades for energy conversion devices with the three-dimensional prescribed surface curvature distribution blade design (CIRCLE) method". Applied Energy 89 (1): 215–227. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.07.004. 
• Korakianitis, T.; Namasivayam, A.M.; Crookes, R.J. (February 2011). "Natural-gas fueled spark-ignition (SI) and compression-ignition (CI) engine performance and emissions". Progress in Energy and Combustion Science 37 (1): 89–112. doi:10.1016/j.pecs.2010.04.002. 
• Korakianitis, T.; Namasivayam, A.M.; Crookes, R.J. (July 2011). "Diesel and rapeseed methyl ester (RME) pilot fuels for hydrogen and natural gas dual-fuel combustion in compression-ignition engines". Fuel 90 (7): 2384–2395. doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2011.03.005. 
• Korakianitis, T.; Boruta, M.; Jerovsek, J.; Meitner, P.L. (October 2009). "Performance of a single nutating disk engine in the 2 to 500 kW power range". Applied Energy 86 (10): 2213–2221. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.01.006. 

See also

• Nutating disc engine

References

External links

• Alexander's faculty profile at Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology