Cristina Amon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Cristina H. Amon
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Cristina Amon in 2015
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| Education | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MSc and ScD, 1998) Simón Bolívar University (1981) |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
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| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Toronto (2006-present) Carnegie Mellon University (1988-2006) |
| Thesis | "Heat Transfer Enhancement and Three-Dimensional Transitional Flows by a Spectral Element-Fourier Method" (1988) |
Cristina H. Amon is a super smart mechanical engineer and a leader in universities. She was the 13th dean of the University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, and she was the very first woman to hold that important job! Before coming to the University of Toronto in 2006, she was a special professor and director at Carnegie Mellon University.
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Cristina Amon's Education Journey
Cristina Amon started her amazing education in Venezuela. She earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Simón Bolívar University in 1981.
After that, she went to the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. There, she earned two more advanced degrees: a Master of Science (MSc) in 1985 and a Doctor of Science (ScD) in 1988.
What Cristina Amon Researches
Cristina Amon is a pioneer in a field called computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This is a fancy way of saying she uses computers to understand how liquids and gases move and how heat travels. Her work helps design better systems that have many different parts working together.
She has made big contributions to how we design things that need to stay cool, like electronics cooling in computers. She also works on managing heat in wearable computers (like smartwatches) and electric vehicles.
Advanced Thermal Research
At the University of Toronto, Cristina Amon leads a special lab called the Advanced Thermal/Fluids Optimization, Modelling, and Simulation (ATOMS) Laboratory. In this lab, she studies how heat moves at a tiny, tiny level, called the nanoscale.
This research helps improve things like semiconductors (the tiny parts inside electronics), energy systems, and even bioengineered devices (things that combine engineering with biology). She has written many important articles and book chapters that other scientists often use in their own work.
Cristina Amon's Career Path
Cristina Amon started her teaching career at Carnegie Mellon University in 1988 as an assistant professor in mechanical engineering. She quickly moved up, becoming an associate professor in 1993 and a full professor in 1997.
She also took on leadership roles at Carnegie Mellon. In 1998, she became the Associate Director of the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems, and then its Director in 1999. By 2001, she was named the Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
Leading at the University of Toronto
In 2006, Cristina Amon became the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto. This was a very important moment because she was the first woman ever to be the dean of this faculty! At the same time, she was also named an Alumni Chair Professor in BioEngineering.
Cristina Amon is very passionate about making the engineering profession more diverse. She wants more people from different backgrounds, especially women, to become engineers. In 2017, she was a main speaker at a big conference for women in science and engineering. Thanks to her leadership, a record number of young women (40.1%) joined the first-year engineering class at the University of Toronto in 2016.
She also played a key role in creating the Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CEIE). This new building will be a central place for students and researchers to work together and share ideas. Construction on this exciting project started in 2015.
Awards and Recognitions
Cristina Amon has received many important awards and honors throughout her career. She is a life fellow of major engineering groups like the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). She is also a fellow of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering, the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
She has won several awards from the ASEE, including the well-known 1997 George Westinghouse Award. In 2003, she received the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Education Award. In 2005, she was recognized as one of America's most important Hispanic people in technology and business.
In 2006, she was chosen to be a member of the National Academy of Engineering, which is a very high honor for engineers. More recently, in 2015, she received the Ontario Professional Engineers Gold Medal. In 2017, she was awarded the Engineering Institute of Canada's Sir John Kennedy Medal. Her most recent award is the 2020 Engineers Canada Gold Medal Award.
Cristina Amon has also served as an editor for important engineering journals, helping to share new research with the world. She is even featured in the "Notable Women in Computing" cards, celebrating her contributions to the field.
