Dr. Daniel Bacellar Promoted to Assistant Research Professor

Dr. Daniel Bacellar has been promoted to Assistant Research professor. Bacellar joined CEEE’s faculty in spring 2020 as a faculty research associate, returning to University of Maryland after four years of working in industry. Bacellar holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Maryland, which he received in 2016 after spending 5 years as a graduate research assistant with CEEE.

In his role as a faculty research associate involved finding opportunities to help CEEE branch out into new research areas, increasing the center’s mission impact. He took on research and pedagogical responsibilities such as mentoring graduate students and co-lecturing courses, in addition to doing some technical and managerial tasks.

Bacellar has received great recognition for his accomplishments in his first year with CEEE and the students especially appreciate his teaching style.

“I appreciate the great efforts taken to assign meaningful projects," said Rajath Devendranath Subbappa. “I guess the reason that enabled me to learn as much as I did over the last three-and-a-half months was that he provided us with opportunities to not just succeed, but also fail. With the fear of failure out of the way, I personally was able to get a lot out of this course.”

For the last three years, Bacellar worked at Optimized Thermal Systems, Inc. (OTS). OTS is a consulting company, owned by CEEE Director Dr. Reinhard Radermacher, that provides R&D services primarily to the HVAC&R industry. Bacellar started as a CFD & Optimization Engineer but after five months he was promoted to an engineering management role.

As a manager he still had a considerable part of his time dedicated to technical work, where he did a lot of project management; overseeing interns to technicians and engineers, for tasks involving wind-tunnel testing, modeling & simulation and software development. In great part, the management piece also involved maintaining client relationships, developing new business and writing proposals.

During graduate school while pursuing his Ph.D., his research focused on the optimization of miniaturized air-to-refrigerant heat exchangers. The goal of his research was to help develop the next generation of heat exchangers and establish new guidelines in heat exchangers design.

Before studying at UMD, Bacellar graduated from the University of Sao Paulo in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He then worked for an energy consultancy company for about two years. At the consultancy company, he was able to dabble in different aspects of research, including software development, simulation, and modeling.

“It was a wonderful journey where I learned a lot and am very grateful for, but now I am excited to use that experience in academic activities at the University of Maryland,” said Bacellar.

Published June 30, 2021