Kenneth K. Kuo, distinguished professor of mechanical engineering and director of the High Pressure Combustion Laboratory, has retired after 39 years of service to Penn State. Since becoming an assistant professor of mechanical engineering in 1972, Kuo has built his reputation as an internationally recognized authority on chemical propulsion and propellant combustion.
One of Kuo's most significant accomplishments is the establishment of the High Pressure Combustion Laboratory. The facility is a propulsion and combustion lab capable of a wide range of experimental testing and theoretical analyses for the characterization of combustion behavior of energetic materials. The lab consists of numerous advanced instrumentation and data acquisition devices for in-depth research in chemical propulsion and combustion.
Kuo has authored four books and edited 11 texts on energetic material combustion and chemical propulsion books. He has published more than 475 technical manuscript publications. Since 2008 he has served as the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Energetic Materials and Chemical Propulsion.
Kuo has served as principal investigator for more than 90 projects, with total funding exceeding $42 million. He has served as adviser to more than 40 doctoral students, 85 master's students and 16 post-doctoral researchers.
An elected fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the International Ballistics Society, Kuo has received numerous awards from various professional societies as well as from U.S. government agencies. Some of these awards include the 1995 Propellant and Combustion Award from AIAA, Faculty Scholar Medal for Engineering from Penn State, 2009 Pendray Aerospace Literature Award of AIAA, 2011 Wyld Propulsion Award of AIAA, a citation plaque from the U.S. Navy Naval Sea Systems Command-Indian Head and a recognition award from the Department of Defense's Ordnance Technology Consortium and its National Warhead and Energetic Consortium. In addition, nine of his co-authored papers have received best paper awards from different professional societies. He has served on two special panels of the National Academies.
Last year, Kuo endowed two new Early Career Professorships in the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering -- the Kenneth K. and Olivia J. Kuo Early Career Professorship and the Kenneth Kuan-Yun Kuo Early Career Professorship -- that will promote the success of young and talented faculty members in the area of combustion and propulsion.
Kuo received his doctorate in aerospace and mechanical sciences from Princeton University in 1971. He worked as a design engineer at AiResearch of Garrett Corporation from 1964 to 1968 on the Apollo Project and hypersonic ramjet engine development. His M.S. in mechanical engineering was received from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1964 and his B.S. in mechanical engineering was from the National Taiwan University in 1961.