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What motivates a particular research effort rarely appears in published articles or even in the assignment of a Ph.D. student to the actual endeavor. Challenged by a group of graduate students to discuss the issue, the presenter reminisces about four programs in his laboratory: flame spread across liquid fuel spill, soot particle emissions, material synthesis by combustion techniques, and development of a "unique" low emission combustor. These recollections form the core of this presentation. What led to the subsequent Ph.D. theses is portrayed with brief introductory remarks, video vignettes and some attempts at humor. With this approach one can conclude that an understanding of undergraduate chemical thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and heat transfer can lay the foundation for Ph.D. programs. Indeed, Penner by his seminal book Introduction to the Study of the Chemistry Flow Processes contributed to the understanding of the additional multidisciplinary aspects inferred.

Dr. Glassman received his B.E. and Dr. Eng. degrees in Chemical Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University. He joined Princeton University in 1950 and recently retired as Robert H. Goddard Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He was also American Cyanamid Professor of Environmental Sciences and Director of Princeton's Center for Energy and Environmental Studies.

Professor Glassman is founder and editor of the international journal, Combustion Science and Technology. He has served as NSF Senior Post-doctoral Fellow and honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Naples (Italy), Visiting Professor at the Technion in Israel (1967), and was Standard Oil of California Visiting Professor of Combustion at Stanford University (1975). For 15 years, Professor Glassman represented the U.S. as a member (and former chairman) of the Propulsion and Energetics Panel of AGARD/NATO. He has served as member of the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Motor Vehicles Emissions and on many other government, academic and industrial advisory committees.

His combustion research interests have been varied and extensive. He has published over 250 papers, two major books, and has lectured and consulted extensively in many aspects of the combustion field. He received The Combustion Institute's Egerton Gold Medal (1982), the ASEE Ralph Coats Coe Award (1984), the AIAA Propellants and Combustion Award (1988), and Princeton's School of Engineering and Applied Science Distinguished Teaching Award (1998). He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 1996.