NEW YORK, Nov. 11, 2009 – Robert H. Socolow, Ph.D., a resident of Princeton, N.J., and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University, will be honored by ASME.  He is being recognized for pioneering contributions in energy research, particularly energy conservation, renewable energy and technologies to reduce CO2 emissions, which have influenced worldwide energy and environmental policy.  He will receive the Society’s Frank Kreith Energy Award.

The award was established in 2005 to honor an individual for significant contributions to a secure energy future with particular emphasis on innovations in conservation and/or renewable energy.  Established by the Solar Energy and Advanced Energy divisions to honor Dr. Frank Kreith’s contributions to solar energy and heat transfer, it was endowed by the Kreith family.  The award will be presented to Dr. Socolow during ASME’s 2009 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, which is being held in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Nov. 13 through 19.

Socolow has been on the faculty at Princeton University since 1971.  His current research interests include carbon dioxide capture from fossil fuels and storage in geological formations, nuclear power, energy efficiency in buildings and the acceleration of deployment of advanced technologies in developing countries.  He is the co-principal investigator, with ecologist Stephen Pacala, of Princeton University’s Carbon Mitigation Initiative (www.princeton.edu/~cmi/), a 15-year (2001-15) project supported by BP and Ford Motor Company.  He and Pacala co-authored Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies (Science, Aug. 13, 2004).

With John Harte, Socolow co-edited Patient Earth (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, N.Y., 1971), one of the first college textbooks for environmental studies.  Starting in 1972 and running well into the 1980s, Socolow directed a team of physical scientists, engineers, architects, statisticians and behavioral scientists in a series of unique research projects on energy conservation in housing; the work is summarized in the book Socolow edited, Saving Energy in the Home, Princeton's Experiments at Twin Rivers (Ballinger Publishing Company, 1978), also published as a special issue (Volume 1, No. 3) of Energy and Buildings (Elsevier Sequoia, April 1978).  He co-directed the American Physical Society's Studies on Technical Aspects of the More Efficient Use o f Energy, held at Princeton in 1974 and summarized in Efficient Use of Energy, AIP Conference Proceedings No. 25 (American Institute of Physics, 1975).  He was the editor of Annual Review of Energy and the Environment (1992-2002).
 
Socolow currently serves on two National Academies’ committees: America’s Energy Future and America’s Climate Choices.  Previously he was a member of the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges for Engineering Committee.  A Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and chair-elect of APS’s Panel on Public Affairs (2009), Socolow is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Socolow received his bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, in physics at Harvard College in 1959.  He earned his master’s degree and his Ph.D. in physics at Harvard University in 1961 and 1964, respectively.

About ASME:
ASME helps the global engineering community develop solutions to real world challenges. Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing and skill development across all engineering disciplines, while promoting the vital role of the engineer in society. ASME codes and standards, publications, conferences, continuing education and professional development programs provide a foundation for advancing technical knowledge and a safer world. For more information visit www.asme.org.