I thought, ‘This is what I want to do and it’s a really good lab’,” he said. “If you’re really interested in thermal engineering, this is the place to be.

Ellery Klein indicated he had an interest in working with CEEE since he learned about its existence.

“I thought, ‘This is what I want to do and it’s a really good lab’,” he said. “If you’re really interested in thermal engineering, this is the place to be.” Klein began his academic career at UMD in 2013, when he started as an undergraduate. He went on to earn his BS in Mechanical Engineering and started as a PhD student last fall.

“It was really easy to transition from undergraduate to graduate by just staying,” he said. “It’s still a lot but it made it easier, from knowing all the professors to kind of already beginning involved in the lab.”

Fields of Study

According to Klein, he came into the mechanical field wanting to work with renewable energy and briefly considered environmental engineering before finding his way to thermal. “I got involved with this lab and Dr. Radermacher's offshoot company OTS,” he said, adding that he initially began work on RoCo. “Now I’m on the next generation heat exchange project.”

“We’re working under the Department of Energy and we’re working to develop a lower charge, more efficient heat exchangers,” explained Klein. He added that part of what drew him to the work is the multitude of possible applications.

“Any project, you’re typically going to need some type of heat exchange facilitator,” Klein said, “especially with renewable energy.” He indicated an interest in working for the Department of Energy or NREL in the future specifically because of the agencies work in renewable energy.
Off To The Races

Klein likes to stay active outside of the classroom whenever he can.

“I like to run in my spare time,” he said, mentioning his high school background in cross country and track. Klein manages to fit in training for his next race around his academic and work schedule. “Sometimes I get back from lab and just go for a 30 or 40 minute run. It’s not too bad,” he said.

“I’ve done two half marathons,” Klein added casually, “and I actually have one coming up next month."


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