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to the MSUERL HomePageGiles Brereton holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and the Imperial College of Science and Technology. He received his B.Sc. degree (with First Class Honors) from Imperial College, University of London, in 1980, where he was also awarded the Silver Medal of the Royal Society of Arts and captained the College soccer team. After working in the aircraft engine division of Rolls-Royce Ltd. for a year, he enrolled at Stanford University on a Fulbright Scholarship. He completed his M.S. degree in 1983 and his Ph.D., under the supervision of Bill Reynolds, in 1987. His Ph.D. thesis research was concerned with measuring and understanding the behaviour of turbulent boundary layers with organized unsteady free streams.
He joined the University of Michigan as an Assistant Professor in 1988, where he continued his research into unsteady turbulent flows while also developing research programs in engine flow processes, engine emissions and nonlinear acoustics. Since 1994, he has been at Michigan State University, where he is presently an Associate Professor. His research activities are carried out at the Engine Research Laboratory, where he works closely with Profs. Schock and Koochesfahani on measuring, understanding, and controlling unsteady flow effects in engine intakes and cylinders. He also carries out research into turbulence and its prediction in unsteady flows. In collaborations with Dr. Richard Spears of Wayne State University's School of Medicine, he has developed improved theories of nucleation which are central to new techniques for oxygenating patients in clinical settings and wastewater in environmental applications.
Dr. Brereton teaches undergraduate courses in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and design, graduate courses in fluid mechanics and turbulence, and has taught short courses on turbulence modeling. He also holds a patent on a novel technique for measuring time-accurate flow rates from pressure drops in unsteady duct flows, using an exact solution of the Navier-Stokes equations, and is a state-licenced soccer coach.