member-academic-staff

Avraham Shitzer

Avraham Shitzer
Professor Emeritus
Professors Emeriti & Retired Faculty
Full CV
Phone:
+972-77-8872841
Fax:
+972-77-8875711
Email: mersasa@technion.ac.il
Office: 504, LD

James H. Belfer Chair in Mechanical Engineering

Education

  • 1965 - B.Sc., Mechanical Engineering, Technion - I.I.T.
  • 1968 - M.Sc., Mechanical Engineering, Technion - I.I.T.
  • 1971 - Ph.D., Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, U.S.A.

Research Interests

  • Thermal modeling and behavior of biological media.
  • Applications of heat transfer in medicine (cryosurgery, hyperthermia, etc.).
  • Human thermal comfort and protective garments.
  • Temperature regulation in mammals.
  • Solar energy applications for heating and cooling.
  • Air conditioning and refrigeration.
  • Optimization of energy systems.

Guest Appointments

  • Visiting Professor, Univ. of Wollongong and MacQuarie Univ., Australia (2004/5)
  • Visiting Professor, Technical University of Denmark (2004)
  • Senior Research Assoc., NRC, US Army, Mass. (1989-1990, 1996-1997)
  • Visiting Assoc. Professor City College of New York (1981, 1983)
  • Visiting Assoc. Prof., U. Texas Health Sci. Ctr., Dallas (1978-1979)
  • Chief Research Officer, NBRI, CSIR, S. Africa (1977)
  • Research Assoc., NRC, NASA Ames, Calif. (1971-1972)
  • Visiting Assist. Prof., U. Illinois, Urbana (1971)

Public Professional Activities

  • Professor and founding Chairperson, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Azrieli College of Engineering, 2011-2014
  • Vice President for Research, Technion (2000-2002)
  • Vice Provost for Research, Technion (1998-2000)
  • Head, Energy Engineering and Environment Conservation Center, Technion (1998)
  •  Member, International Advisory Committee, University of Cyprus (1995-1998)
  • Chairman, National Council for Higher Education Committee for Accreditation of B.Tech. Degrees (1992-1994)
  • Dean, Faculty of Mech. Eng. Technion (1991-1996)
  • Principal, Junior Technical College (1986-1989)
  • Head, Danciger Laboratory (1980-1983)
  • Member, Technion Standing Committee for Promotion of Academic Staff (1987-1988, 1998-99)
  • Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies (1975-1977)

Membership in Professional Societies

  • ASHRAE
  • ASME
  • IIR
  • ISHRAE
  • AIMBE

Honors and Awards

  • Fulbright-Hayes Grant (1968)
  • Hebrew Technical Institute Scholarships (1968-1971)
  • ASHRAE Best International Paper Award (1978)
  • Ray and Miriam Klein Award (1983)
  • Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineering (2000)
  • Fellow, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (2005)
  • Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2006)

  • Shitzer, A., Paradox: Increased blood flow to the face enhances protection against frostbite while lowering wind chill temperatures. International Journal of Biometeorology. Vol. 51, No. 5, pp. 383-393, 2007.
  • Magalov, Z., Shitzer, A. and Degani, D. Isothermal volume contours generated in a freezing gel by embedded cryo-needles with applications to cryo-surgery. Cryobiology. Vol 55/2, pp. 127-137, 2007.
  • Shitzer, A., Transient analysis of the effects of cold wind on exposed skin: reflections on the assessment of wind chill equivalent temperatures. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Vol. 47, 917-924, 2008.
  • Shitzer, A. and de Dear, R., Reply to "Comment on "inconsistencies in the 'new' wind chill chart at low wind speeds." Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 917–924, 2008.
  • Magalov, Z., Shitzer, A. and Degani, D., Experimental and numerical study of 1, 2 and 3 embedded needle cryo-probes simultaneously operated by high pressure Argon gas. ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, Vol. 130, No. 3, pp. 032301/1-12, 2008.
  • Shitzer, A. Assessment of the effects of environmental radiation on wind chill equivalent temperatures. European Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol. 104, No. 2, pp. 115-120, 2008.
  • Beckerman, G., Shitzer, A. and Degani, D., Numerical model of the effects of a thermally-significant blood vessel on solidification by a circular surface cryosurgical probe compared to experimental data. ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, Vol. 131, No.5, pp. 051101.1-9, 2009.
  • Rybko, N., Shitzer, A. and Degani, D., Experimental simulation of a thermally significant blood vessel in a tissue subjected to cryo-surgery, 7th World Conference on Experimental Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics, Krakow, Poland, pp. 193-200, 28/6-03/7, 2009.
  • Kolarik, J., Toftum, J., Olesen, B. W. and Shitzer, A., Occupant responses and office work performance in environments with moderately drifting temperatures (RP-1269). HVAC&R Research, Vol. 15, No. 5, pp. 931-960, 2009.
  • Shitzer, A., Cryosurgery: Analysis and experimentation of cryoprobes in phase changing media. ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, Vol. 133, No. 1, pp. 11005.1-12, 2011.
  • Shitzer, A. and Tikuisis, P., Advances, shortcomings, and recommendations for wind chill estimation. International Journal of Biometeorology, Special Issue (UTCI), Vol. 56, No. 3, pp. 495-503, 2012. (DOI 10.1007/S00484-010-0362-9, September 201(.
  • Benshabat, Y., and Shitzer, A., Facial convective heat exchange coefficients in cold and windy environments estimated from human experiments. International Journal of Biometeorology, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 639-651, 2012. (DOI 10.1007/s00484-011-0463-0, July 2011(.
  • Rotman, O., Zaretsky, U., Shitzer A. and Einav S., Effect of arterial distensibility and stenoses on pressure drop in pulsatile flow. Proceedings, ASME 2012 Summer Bioengineering Conference, Paper No. SBC2012-80058, pp. 587-588, doi:10.1115, 2012
  • Levin, P. P., Shitzer, A. and Hetsroni, G., Numerical optimization of a PCM-based Heat Sink with Internal Fins, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 61, 638–645, 2013
  • Benshabat, Y., Shitzer, A. and Fiala, D., Modified wind chill temperatures determined by a whole body thermoregulation model and convective coefficients based on human experiments. International Journal of Biometeorology, Vol. 58, No. 6, pp. 1007-1015, 2014. (DOI 10/1007/s00484-013-069-z, 2013(.
  • Rotman, O.M., Zaretsky, U., Shitzer, A. and Einav, S., Method for high accuracy differential pressure measurements using fluid-filled catheters, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 42, No. 8 (2014), pp. 1705-1716, 2014. (ABME-D-14-00198R1(.
  • Shitzer, A., Reply to Comments by R. Osczevski on "Modified wind chill temperatures determined by a whole body thermoregulation model and human-based convective coefficients" by Ben Shabat, Shitzer and Fiala (2013) and "Facial convective heat exchange coefficients in cold and windy environments estimated from human experiments" by Ben Shabat and Shitzer (2012)" by A. Shitzer. International Journal of Biometeorology, Vol. 58, No. 6, pp. 1019-1020, 2014. (DOI: 10.1007/s00484-014-0856-y, 2014)
  • Rotman, O.M., Zaretsky, U., Shitzer, A. and Einav, S., High accuracy differential pressure measurements using fluid-filled catheters - A feasibility study in compliant tubes, Journal of Biomechanics, Vol. 48, No. 12, pp. 3543-3548, 2015.
  • Shitzer, A., Arens, E. and Zhang, H., Compilation of basal metabolic and blood perfusion rates in various multi-compartment, whole body thermoregulation models, International Journal of Biometeorology, (DOI: 10.1007/s00484-015-1096-5, 2015)
  • Magalov, Z., Shitzer, A. and Degani, D., An efficient technique for estimating the two-dimensional temperature distributions around multiple cryo-surgical probes based on combining contributions of unit circles, Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, (DOI: 10.1080/10255842.2016.1154546, 2016(.