Professor Carey is widely recognized for his research on near-interface micro-scale phenomena, thermophysics and transport in liquid-vapor systems, and computational modeling and simulation of energy conversion and transport processes. Since joining the Berkeley faculty in 1982, Professor Carey’s research has spanned a variety of applications areas, including fuel cells, solar power systems, building and vehicle air conditioning, forging and casting of aluminum, phase change thermal energy storage, Rankine cycle power for manned space missions, heat pipes for aerospace applications, high heat flux cooling of electronics, heat transfer in porous burners, data center energy efficiency, energy sustainability of information processing, and advanced solar absorber and turbomachinery technologies for Rankine cycle power generation.
Current Research Interests
Energy conversion and transport; non-equilibrium thermodynamics of phase change phenomena; computational modeling of microscale thermophysics and transport in multiphase systems; boiling phenomena in binary mixtures; molecular dynamics simulation of interfacial region thermophysics; statistical thermodynamics; computer aided thermal design; exergy-based sustainability analysis of systems for energy conversion and use; concentrating collectors for solar thermal power generation; thermal control; energy efficiency of electronics and information processing systems, radial flow turbines and Tesla turbines for solar Rankine power generation.