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Amy Mensch (Fed)
Mechanical Engineer
Dr. Amy Mensch is a mechanical engineer in the Engineered Fire Safety Group of the Fire Research Division (FRD) of the Engineering Laboratory (EL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Dr. Mensch began working at NIST in 2015 after obtaining her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Penn State University, where she researched heat transfer in gas turbine applications and studied the thermal effects of contaminant deposition and cooling geometry. She obtained her M.S. in mechanical engineering, also from Penn State, with her thesis on the sooting propensity of gas turbine surrogate fuels. Prior to starting her doctoral degree, she worked in the Fire Fighting Technology Group in the FRD at NIST from 2009-2011, when she investigated the thermal performance of respirator facepieces. Currently, Dr. Mensch's research interests are soot deposition, fire and smoke detection, kitchen cooktop fire prevention, and ember or firebrand ignition. She is an active member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and an alum of ASME's Early-Career Leadership Program to Serve Engineers (ECLIPSE).
Awards
2025, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Lakshmi Singh Early Career Leadership Award
2024, Penn State Mechanical Engineering Society's (PSMES's) Outstanding Early Career Award
2023, Washington Academy of Sciences Young Investigator Award in Engineering Sciences
2023, NIST Foundations of Leadership Program, Graduate
2022, Invited Plenary Lecture "Production, Transport and Deposition of Smoke in Fire Research" at the Spring Technical Meeting of the Eastern States Section of the Combustion Institute
2021, EL Special Act Award for exceptional leadership in the development and execution of a new research symposium highlighting NIST disaster resilience research with other EL colleagues
2021, NIST Project Management Leadership Program, Graduate
2015, Rohsenow Prize for Best Presentation on Gas Turbine Heat Transfer at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress
