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Members // Regular Members // Yannis Yortsos

Regular Member

Yannis Yortsos

Yannis Yortsos

Dean

College of Engineering

University of Southern California

United States of America

Current Position:
Dean of the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California, Chester F. Dolley Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and Holder of the Zohrab A. Kaprielian Dean’s Chair in Engineering.

Current International Activities:
Established in 2012 Boards of Advisors for China and East Asia, and for India.  Helped form the iPodia Alliance, whose 7 founding members span three continents.  The Alliance is a partnership of 7 universities to form a global classroom. He is also actively involved in the program of the upcoming Global Summit on Engineering Grand Challenges, to be held in London, March, 2013.

National/ Regional/ Global Interests:
Yortsos has helped advocating the 14 National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges, by organizing or co-organizing two national summits in 2009-2010.  He is also involved in the National Engineering Forum. Yortsos is a member of the Executive Committee of the Engineering Deans Council and chairs the Diversity Committee of the same. 

Academic Leadership Experience:
Appointed dean in 2005, Yortsos had served as senior associate dean for academic affairs at the Viterbi School from 2001 to 2005. 
He was chairman of the USC Department of Chemical Engineering from 1991 to 1997.

Areas of Research:
His research interests are in the flow, transport and reaction processes in porous media and constricted flow geometries.

Selected Published Articles and Works:
1. Yiotis, A.G., Salin, D., Tajer, E.S., and Yortsos, Y.C., Drying of a Porous Medium in the Presence of Gravity: Part I. Analytical Results, Phys. Rev. E., in press (Vol. 85, No. 4), URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10/1103/PhysRevE.85.046308, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.85.046308

2. Chen, M., Yortsos, Y.C., and Rossen, W., A Pore-Network Study of the Mechanisms of Foam Generation in Porous Media. Rev., E., 73 (2), n 3, id. 036304 (2006).

3. Mahadevan, J., Sharma, M.M., and Yortsos, Y.C., Flow-Through Drying of Porous Media, AlChEJ 52, 2367-2380 (2006).

4. Amili, P., and Yortsos, Y.C., Darcian Dynamics: A New Approach to the Mobilization of a Trapped Phase in Porous Media, TiPM 64, 25-49 (2006).

5. Yortsos, Y.C., and Salin, D., On the Selection Principle for Viscous  Fingering in Porous Media, J. Fluid mech. 557, 225-236 (2006).

Awards and Accomplishments:
Yortsos is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE), since 2008, and the liaison of his NAE section to the National Research Council.  In 2011 he received the Honorary member award of the SPE and the AIME, which is the highest distinction of the two societies.  He is also an Eminent Member of Tau Beta Pi.  Yortsos was the Editor-in-Chief of all Technical Journals of the SPE, between 2006 and 2010.  As Dean of Engineering he introduced substantial innovation in the engineering curriculum, helped expand the research volume of the school to all-time highs and helped triple the female faculty representation in the school, while helping complete in 2008 a USD 300 Million Fundraising initiative for the school of engineering.  Yortsos is a strong advocate of the empowering potential of engineering to society, and has coined the term engineering+ to reflect it.

Education:
Yortsos received his B.Sc. degree from the National Technical University, Athens, Greece, in 1973, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the California Institute of Technology in 1974 and 1979 respectively, all in chemical engineering.