International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 52 (2009) 2423–2424

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

In Celebration

Professor Sung Tack Ro on his 65th birthday

Sung Tack Ro was born in Seoul, Korea, on April 16, 1943. Heentered elementary school just before the beginning of theKorean War in 1950 when his father was the principal of an elementary school. Since then, his life has always been associatedwith various educational institutions. Professor Ro received hisﬁrst degree in mechanical engineering from Seoul National University in 1966 and then served as an instructor in an army ordnance school. While there, he taught automobile maintenanceand principles for two years. Having ﬁnished his military service,
he moved to the United States for graduate study. Professor Ro
obtained his Master degree from the Rose Polytechnic Institute(now Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology) in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1969, and then moved to Brown University in Providence,R.I., for his Ph.D. He received his doctorate degree in 1972 under
the guidance of the late Professor J. Kestin.
Subsequently, after spending one year as a Research Associate,
Professor Ro returned to the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Seoul National University in September, 1973, as an Assistant Professor. This year, he retires from the same department
after an illustrious 35-year-long career.
Professor Ro has often mentioned that he was fortunate tohave had the chance to attend Rose Polytechnic where he wasable to begin his graduate study with ﬁnancial support, and tohave met Professor Kestin from whom he learned not only about
thermal science but also about life, especially that of anacademic.

doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2008.11.014

His research covers diverse ﬁelds though they all share the common bond of applying thermodynamic principles to optimize theuse of energy. Professor Ro produced seminal fundamental studies
on measurement of the viscosity and thermal conductivity of multi-component gas mixtures at high temperatures, including thework done at Brown with Professor Kestin and Professor W. Wakeham (currently the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton, U.K.). The thermal conductivity measurements were extended
to cover new refrigerants and their mixtures. He also devoted
much effort to investigating transient heat transfer of phasechange of melting and solidiﬁcation with volume changes in twophases; frost formation; and natural convection around a thincoated wire.
Professor Ro has also carried out more application-oriented research and has analyzed the performance of various power andrefrigeration systems using gas/steam turbines and, more recently,fuel cells.
In all, Professor Ro has authored over 200 archival journal papers in addition to many conference papers in the areas of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and energy systems. Also, he has authoreda book on thermodynamics. Using his unique talent to relate his research to his teaching, his lectures have been popular among students for decades and have been recognized through teachingawards.
In addition to his distinguished research and teaching career,
Professor Ro has held many administrative positions as well. For

2424

In Celebration / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 52 (2009) 2423–2424

nine years, he has directed the Turbo and Power Machinery Research Center which was supported by Korean government andindustries. He also served as the Director of the Institute of Advanced Machinery and Design at Seoul National University for fouryears.
Professor Ro has also volunteered generously to various academic societies. He was the organizer/chair of numerous conferences, including the 11th International Heat Transfer Conference(1998), the 5th Asian Thermophysical Properties Conference(1998), and the 6th International Symposium on Transport Phenomena (ISTP-6) in Thermal Engineering (1993). He served as thePresident of the Assembly for the International Heat Transfer Conferences (1998–2002). He was also the President of the Korean
Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Society of Air-Conditioning and Refrigerating Engineers of Korea.
He has also been a member of the advisory/editorial boards oran editor of the International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer,
International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, theInternational Journal of Transport Phenomena, the International
Journal of Refrigeration, and the International Journal of Rotating
Machinery.
Professor Ro was a Visiting Professor at Brown University andTokyo Institute of Technology. He is a member of the Korean Acad-emy of Science and Technology and the National Academy of Engineering of Korea. He is also a Fellow of the American Society ofMechanical Engineers.
On the occasion of his retirement from Seoul National University, we would like to recognize his professional achievements
and wish him continued good health and happiness.
Joon Sik Lee
School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering,Seoul National University,Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea
Tel.: +82 2 880 7117; fax: +82 2 883 0179
E-mail address: jslee123@snu.ac.kr
W.J. Minkowycz
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (M/C 251),
The University of Illinois at Chicago,
842 West Taylor Street, Room 2049 ERF,
Chicago, IL 60607-7022, USA
Hideo Yoshida
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan