ORNL’s Derek Splitter receives 2023 U.S. Early Career Combustion Investigator Award

The U.S. Combustion Institute has recognized Oak Ridge National Laboratory fuel science researcher Derek Splitter with the Early Career Combustion Investigator Award, a biannual honor that highlights excellence in the combustion research community. The honor will be presented during the 13th U.S. National Combustion Meeting at Texas A&M University.

Splitter, who is a senior researcher in fuel science and engine technologies, was selected for his early career contributions in combustion as well as his potential for future leadership in the field and service to the research community.

At ORNL, Splitter works at the Department of Energy’s National Transportation Research Center where he studies alternative fuels and low-carbon transportation solutions, advanced materials, neutron imaging, and premixed, heterogeneous, abnormal, and kinetically controlled combustion and internal combustion engine processes.

He is active in the engine combustion community and has authored more than 90 publications. He holds multiple patents in engine materials, fuels and combustion processes including conventional spark and compression ignition processes, stochastic pre-ignition, novel bi-metallic materials and advanced combustion processes. His research has been recognized with the SAE Horning Memorial and Myers Awards. He’s also been an R&D 100 finalist and winner, and is an active member in SAE, ASME and the Combustion Institute.

Splitter received his doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison at the Engine Research Center.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.