Regular biography
Michael Frenklach is the Roscoe and Elizabeth Hughes Chair in Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is also the Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department. His research interests include chemical kinetics, computer modeling, combustion chemistry, pollutant formation, shock tube experiments, and chemical vapor deposition of diamond films. He teaches current classes and maintains an active research program through the Combustion Laboratory. His work explores topics such as homogeneous nucleation of silicon, silicon carbide, and diamond powders, as well as interstellar dust formation.
Scholar-generated biography
Michael Frenklach is a researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, specializing in combustion chemistry and soot formation mechanisms. His work focuses on detailed kinetic modeling of soot formation in flames, including laminar premixed flames of C2 hydrocarbons and shock-tube pyrolysis of acetylene. He has developed advanced models for soot particle nucleation, growth, and coagulation, incorporating the method of moments with interpolative closure. His research also extends to the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in circumstellar envelopes and the gas-phase synthesis of graphene sheets. Frenklach has contributed to the development of the GRI-Mech, a detailed chemical reaction mechanism for methane combustion.