Dr. Adams has served as President of Reaction Engineering since 2000. He previously held positions as Vice-President of Engineering Analysis and Manager of Applied Technologies at REI. He has performed R&D in the areas of heat transfer, fluid dynamics and combustion for the past twenty years. Over the past ten years he has focused on pollutant control and performance optimization of large-scale combustion systems, with particular emphasis on in-furnace NOx reduction technologies and related impacts on furnace operation. He has played a key role in the development and application of REI's combustion simulation tools to industrial problems.

• Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, 1993
• M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University, 1985
• B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University, 1984

• President, Reaction Engineering International, Salt Lake City, Utah (2000 - Present)
  • Led a growing R&D consulting firm with an internationally recognized expertise in combustion and environmental solutions. Coordinated R&D programs for government clients and problem-solving projects for commercial clients in the power generation, chemical processing and material processing industries. Annual revenues of $4 M.
    
    
• Vice President, Engineering Analysis, Reaction Engineering International, Salt Lake City, Utah (1998 - 2000)
  • Managed REI analysis/modeling division with responsibility for Environmental Technologies and Performance Optimization groups.
    
    
• Manager, Applied Technologies, Reaction Engineering International, Salt Lake City, Utah (1997 - 1998)
  • Managed projects modeling industrial combustion applications including work for power generation, chemical process and metallurgical industries; responsible for project proposals, schedules and technical and fiscal progress.
    
    
• Senior Engineer, Reaction Engineering International, Salt Lake City, Utah (1992 - 1997)
  • Conducted research and development related to the simulation of large-scale turbulent gas- and coal-fired combustion systems with an emphasis on radiative heat transfer and numerical methods; applied REI’s combustion simulation software to improve performance of a variety of industrial combustion systems.
    
    
• Instructor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah (1992)
  • Taught undergraduate heat transfer course, ranked in top 20% of Engineering College instructors in student evaluations.
    
    
• Consultant, Reaction Engineering International, Salt Lake City, Utah (1991)
  • Analyzed differences in deposition and NOx levels between a slurry-fired and dry coal-fired turbine combustor; evaluated effects of multiple burners and urea injection on NOx levels in a gas-fired utility boiler.
    
    
• Consultant, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico (1990)
  • Analyzed transient heat transfer characteristics of materials in a waste storage container to determine possibility of explosion and solid waste combustion.
    
    
• Research Assistant, Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah (1990 - 1992)
  • Conducted research of radiative heat transfer mechanisms in industrial gas- and coal-fired furnaces including turbulence-soot-radiation interaction; implemented domain decomposition techniques to improve computational efficiency of combustion software.
    
    
• Research Assistant, Combustion Computations Laboratory, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (1989 - 1990)
  • Conducted research of radiative heat transfer mechanisms in industrial furnaces including improved radiation property models; implemented and evaluated vectorization techniques to improve computational efficiency of combustion software.
    
    
• Staff Member, Optical Systems Engineering, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, Massachusetts (1987 - 1989)
  • Led projects to analyze the thermal performance of a high-energy laser system, aircraft-based cryogenic cooling system and satellite-based electronics package using experimental prototypes and CFD-based simulations; served as Group Representative on committees responsible for procurement of division mini-supercomputer and workstations; evaluated and procured heat transfer and CFD analysis codes for Group use.
    
    
• Engineer, Corporate Mechanical Engineering, GenRad, Concord, Massachusetts (1984 - 1986)
  • Responsible for structural, thermal and acoustical analysis of three new products; developed computer codes for optimizing acoustical and thermal packaging of electronics systems.

• Advanced Combustion Engineering Research Center (ACERC) Fellowship
• National Merit Four-year Scholarship
• Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society

Publications