Dissertation Offers Novel Cooling Solution for Aircraft Electric Propulsion Systems

Congratulations to Murilo Nicoluzzi on successfully defending his Ph.D. dissertation, “A Novel Air-Cooled Heat Sink for an Electric-Propulsion Aircraft Application Based on the Manifold-Minichannel Concept.”

For his dissertation, Nicoluzzi developed an innovative cooling solution for high-power electric propulsion systems used in aircraft applications. The prototype uses a manifold-microchannel heat sink (MMHS) to dissipate waste heat from a 500 kW electric motor designed for aviation use. When compared with a conventional straight-fin heat sink under equivalent pumping power conditions, the MMHS achieved up to 50% lower thermal resistance, positioning the approach as a viable thermal management solution for next-generation electric propulsion motors.

Nicoluzzi conducted his research in UMD’s Smart and Small Thermal Systems Laboratory, through CEEE’s Advanced Heat Exchangers and Process Intensification Consortium (AHXPI). He worked under the guidance of his advisor CEEE Co-Founder and Minta Martin Professor Michael Ohadi, and co-advisor, mechanical engineering Professor Hugh Bruck, with additional mentorship from mechanical engineering Research Professor Amir Shooshtari.

“My experience at CEEE/AHXPI has been incredibly valuable for both my technical and professional growth. I’ve had the opportunity to work on innovative and challenging research projects, learning from the expertise of Professors Ohadi, Bruck and Shooshtari in thermal management systems, numerical modeling and experimental design. Through their guidance, I strengthened my skills in critical thinking, problem-solving and data analysis, ultimately becoming a more confident and capable researcher.”

Nicoluzzi has accepted a position as an advanced R&D engineer/scientist with Solstice Advanced Materials in Buffalo, New York, where he will help develop refrigerant working fluids for HVAC systems.

A searchable listing of CEEE theses and dissertations published 2003–2025 is available online.

Published November 10, 2025