Emissions and Fuels Researchers
J. Wayne Miller
Dr. Miller joined CERT in December 2000 after a distinguished career with Sun Oil Co. and UNOCAL. Dr. Miller brings more than 25 years of experience in technology planning, chemical engineering processes, new product development/commercialization, business development and multi-national relationships. He was one of the members of the Auto/Oil Research Program and more recently participated in the National Petroleum Council Report (June 2000) on the outlook for the refining industry over the next five years. His experience includes the management of programs with a high level of financial responsibility and broad scope of work. He brings a wide range of industrial experience that covers both fuel and lubricant formulations and the management of projects.
Dr. Miller holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Additionally, he has had training at the Harvard Business School and Wharton School Forum on emerging technology and emerging markets. Before joining CERT, Dr. Miller was Vice President of Technology and Development for Sun Oil in Philadelphia. At UNOCAL Corp. (1975-94), Dr. Miller led the largest proprietary research program on the relationship between gasoline properties and tailpipe emissions.
Tom Durbin
Thomas D. Durbin is a research engineer in the emissions and fuels research group of CE-CERT. Dr. Durbin conducts research in a broad range of topics related to vehicle emissions including particulate matter (PM) emissions, diesel, biodiesel, and gasoline fuels, portable emissions measurement systems (PEMS), and the unregulated species such as ammonia, N2O, and toxics. As a Principal investigator for a variety of mobile source related programs, Dr. Durbin’s heads a scientific program with annual budgets from approximately $750,000-$2 million. Dr Durbin conducts research in CE-CERT’s state-of-of-the-art emissions test facilities including a heavy-duty mobile emissions laboratory, a heavy-duty engine dynamometer laboratory, and a light-duty chassis dynamometer laboratory.
Dr. Durbin is currently leading extensive efforts in fuels research for the State of California in biodiesel, comparisons with out of state diesel fuels, and the development of a fuels research Roadmap for the California Energy Commission (CEC). He is also the lead research in CE-CERT’s new Alternative Transportation Fuels Research – Center of Excellence, which has received initial funding from CEC. He has also previously conducted large scale fuel studies for ethanol, fuel sulfur, and lubricants.
Dr. Durbin is also extensively involved with particle research, including studies of the European PMP protocols, and in-field measurements of emissions from passenger cars, heavy-duty trucks, and construction equipment with PEMS. Prior to joining the emissions and fuel research group, Dr. Durbin was involved in several other areas of research at CE-CERT including renewable energy and fuel sources and advanced vehicle technologies. Dr. Durbin received his doctorate degree in Physics from the University of California, Riverside, in 1994 where the primary focus of his dissertation was the study of Si films and solid lubricants.
Kent Johnson
Dr. Johnson joined CE-CERT's research faculty in 2010 after serving on the Center's staff as Principal Development Engineer and manager of the Mobile Emissions Laboratory (MEL). He received his Ph.D. in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from UC Riverside where his doctoral research focused on the impact of emissions on ambient air quality. More specifically Johnson's research interests include: 1) quantification of in-use emission measurements; 2) advancement of measurement techniques; and 3) study of fuel impacts on emissions for diesel engines.
Since 2000, Johnson has been the lead design engineer responsible for the development of the on-road mobile emissions laboratory (MEL). Since MEL’s design, he has been responsible for all technical and management details of emissions measurements such as interfacing research equipment, performing quality control, technical reporting, setting up tests, and processing all data from the laboratory. MEL meets the specifications of the CRF and has cross correlated with many other laboratories. MEL is considered a very reliable and accurate laboratory from regulators and industrial client’s perspectives.
Johnson recently was the key researcher in a comprehensive program to validate portable emissions measurement systems (PEMS) for in-use regulatory measurements. This program, called he Measurement Allowance Program, involved comparison between the MEL and PEMS over on-road driving conditions to characterize errors associated with using PEMS for these measurements in comparison with a reference method.
Johnson joined CE-CERT in January 1993 and was initially involved in CE-CERT’s solar hydrogen production facilities, and a biomass to fuels gasification pilot plant. In addition to his normal CE-CERT work activities, Dr. Johnson was involved in five student competitions. The competitions involved solar energy and vehicle conversion to ethanol and propane fuels.
Prior to CE-CERT, his work experience included the Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (CCCSD) and BadischeStahl Werk GmbH (BSW) a German steel factory.
He received his Ph.D. in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from UC Riverside, his MS Degree in Electrical Engineering Controls from California Polytechnic, Pomona, and his BS Degree in Mechanical Engineering from California Polytechnic.
David Cocker
David R. Cocker III, Associate Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Cocker's research concentration is on the physical and chemical processes leading to aerosol formation in the atmosphere. This includes research into gas-to-particle conversion and transformation processes of aerosols. Dr. Cocker also works closely with researchers from CE-CERT's Emissions and Fuels Research group to develop and evaluate methods for quantifying primary particulate emissions from diesel engines, and to apply these methods for studies of emission rates and the impacts of emission control technologies.
Dr. Cocker recently received a National Science Foundation Early Development CAREER award to investigate secondary organic aerosol (SOA) processes. His group is actively researching factors affecting SOA formation including the influence of ammonia, water, NOx, and light hydrocarbonson SOA formation potentials for biogenic and anthropogenic aerosol precursors. Recent emissions work has focused on developing chemical source profiles for locomotives, aircrafts, and ocean-going vessels.
Other research includes a study to identify sources of particulate pollution in urban areas of India. Dr. Cocker earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering (with a minor in Chemical Engineering) from the California Institute of Technology in 2000. He earned his M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Caltech in 1998, and his B.S. in Environmental Engineering and Chemistry from the University of California, Riverside, in 1996.
Georgios Karavalakis
Dr. Karavalakis joined the Center's Emissions and Fuels Research Group in 2010 as an Assistant Research Engineer. He previously served as a research fellow at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in Greece where he worked on catalytic systems for biofuels production, fuel quality issues, additives, and fuel technology. His research also included studies of engine combustion and vehicle emission measurements and characterization.
He has worked on multidisciplinary teams in alternative fuel emission testing and engine performace toward the development of a biofuels industry in Europe. As a consulting engineer, he developed novel multifunctional antioxidant additives for biodiesel fuels and he was involved in the development of fuel analysis laboratory and fuel quality control monitoring of a biofuels production plant at Elin Biofuels in Volos, Greece.
Georgios received his Ph.D. from NTUA's School of Chemical Engineering, where his doctoral research concerned optimization of biodiesel production and emissions performance from biodiesel-fueled vehicles. He was also educated at the University of Portsmouth (UK), earning a Masters in Environmental Engineering and a Bachelor's Degree in Engineering.
Heejung Jung
Dr. Heejung Jung received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, and received both his M.S. and B.S. degrees from Seoul National University in Mechanical Engineering.
Upon completion of his masters, he joined Hyundai Motor Company as a research engineer. Dr. Jung later completed his postdoc research at UC Davis before joining CE-CERT and UCR.
Dr. Jung's current research focus areas are diesel PM emissions, nanoparticle synthesis, and air quality. He is also interested in fuel and additives, as they are the source of power and emissions through the combustion process.
Joe Norbeck
Joseph Norbeck is the recently retired W. Ruel Johnson Professor and former Director of CE-CERT. He joined the University of California, Riverside, in January 1992 after working as head of the Chemistry Department, Research Staff, Ford Motor Co. He has a Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry from the University of Nebraska. He has published more than seventy-five papers in theoretical chemistry, atmospheric modeling, vehicle emissions, and advanced vehicle technology. His current research includes the relationship between vehicle emissions and air quality, development of renewable fuels, and development of advanced vehicle technology.
Dr. Norbeck was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1999. He received the South Coast Air Quality Management District Clean Air Award in 1995, the Valley Group Award in 1997 for Excellence in Environment and Research, and was elected as local leader for the City of Riverside and received the Regional Leader of the Year Award in 1998. He has held a gubernatorial appointment as an Air Quality Expert on the California Inspection/Maintenance Review Committee and is a member of several other committees including the Cal/EPA Environmental Technology Partnership Task Force, the Executive Research Advisory Committee of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and Scientific Review Committee for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
Robert L. Russell
Associate Project Scientist Robert L. Russell joined CE-CERT's Emissions and Fuels Research Group in 2009. He specializes in diesel emission measurement and fuel studies. Dr. Russell was formerly Director of Fuel Research and Development for ORYXE Energy International, Inc.
Also formerly with Unocal, he developed a patented cost-effective diesel fuel formulation which was qualified as emission equivalent to a 10 percent aromatic fuel by the California Air Resources Board for use on California roads.
He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire and his Ph.D. in chemistry from UC, Irvine.
William Welch
Principal Development Engineer Bill Welch received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Mexico. In 1988, he joined Los Alamos National Laboratory as a staff research assistant involved in the design of analytical methods, applied chemistry, and state-of-the-art sample dissolution techniques for soil, water, and gaseous samples.
Mr. Welch worked as an air quality engineer at the South Coast Air Quality Management District, where he served as the technical contact for SCAQMD Rule 1174 (Ignition of Barbecue Charcoal), developed an alternative method for determining VOC capture efficiency, and designed and developed a nitrogen oxide sampling system. Mr. Welch joined the Center for Emissions Research and Analysis (CERA) in 1992 as a supervising engineer. At CERA, he worked on emission test protocol development. His expertise includes emission sampling and analysis, with a focus on measurement aspects of Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions.
At CE-CERT, Mr. Welch has led the development of test protocols for the evaluation of a portable NOx analyzer and assessment of emissions from commercial cooking operations. He also directs projects related to instrumentation for emissions measurement, including the development of a laboratory with a heavy-duty truck trailer for on-road emissions measurements.
