Hrnjak honored by ASHRAE for outstanding achievements

Professor Pega Hrnjak has been honored by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) for his outstanding career achievements.

He received the competitive Louise and Bill Holladay Distinguished Fellow Award for 2019, an annual award given to an ASHRAE Fellow for continuous preeminence in engineering or research work. The honor was initiated in 1979 by Presidential Member Bill Holladay. Hrnjak was recognized at the ASHRAE Annual Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, last month. 

Hrnjak joined MechSE in 1993, first serving as a postdoctoral research associate before becoming a Research Professor in 2000. He is the Director of the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Center (ACRC), an industry-university cooperative research center founded by the NSF that promotes collaborative research in advanced air conditioning and refrigeration systems. In 2018, when he was named the Stoecker Faculty Fellow, he became the first Research Professor to receive this distinction.

He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Fellow of the American Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and Fellow of ASHRAE. Among his notable international awards are the 2008 Ritter von Rittinger Award from the International Energy Agency, the 2011 Gustav Lorentzen Medal from the International Institute of Refrigeration, and the 2011 J&E Hall Gold Medal from the Institute of Refrigeration. 

Hrnjak earned his Dipl. Ing., M.S., and D.Sc. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1976, 1984, and 1992, respectively. His current research focuses on heat transfer and fluid mechanics with end-use energy conversion applications as refrigeration, heat pumps, and air conditioning. Additionally, Hrnjak is president of Creative Thermal Solutions, Inc.