Case 97-02

Jan Sengers at the University of Maryland:

Critical Phenomena in Fluids

A Case Study of the R&D Value Mapping Project

Institute for Policy Research and Development

School of Public Policy

Georgia Tech

Atlanta, Georgia 30332

Unedited Draft

This case was written by Hans Klein and is based on research performed by Hans Klein and David Roessner. Comments or questions should be directed to Hans Klein at 404.894.2258 or by email at hans.klein@pubpolicy.gatech.edu. The research was sponsored by the Department of Energy, Division of Basic Energy Sciences, Contract No. 45562. The views presented here are the case author’s and do not necessarily represent those of the Department of Energy, University of Maryland, or Georgia Institute of Technology.

Jan Sengers at the University of Maryland:

Critical Phenomena in Fluids

Project Summary

This case study focuses on a program of research that has involved many people over time but that has been defined and led primarily by one individual: Prof. Jan Sengers. Sengers’ lifetime work has been in the area of critical phenomena in fluids, and the DOE-funded research program in this area is Senger’s work.

The concept of a critical phenomenon in fluids comes from thermodynamics and refers to the behavior of a fluid near a state transition point, such as the transition point of water from liquid to steam. Critical phenomena in fluids have unusual properties such as the rapid dampening of sound waves, the extreme scattering of light, and the divergence of heat capacity and thermal conductivity.

Sengers has made important contributions in theoretical explanation of phenomena, experimental investigation, and engineering applications. Sengers’ main funding sources have been the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. His main intellectual outputs have been research papers published in refereed journals. His work has also has industrial impacts, particularly in the areas of standard-setting of the properties of water and steam.

Sources: The UMD-Sengers case is based chiefly on interviews (July 16, 1997), conducted by David Roessner and Hans Klein, with Dr. Sengers and his research team at UMD. In addition, a number of documents were used as sources, including journal editorials, news stories, and review letters that document his scientific contributions.

Jan Sengers at the University of Maryland:

Critical Phenomena in Fluids

Part I. Case Narrative

Jan Sengers came to the US from Holland in 1963 to work for the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST). In 1968 he switched to the University of Maryland (UMD), where he has remained up to the present. Beginning as Associate Professor, he advanced steadily to his current position of Distinguished University Professor, the highest rank at UMD.

Sengers work is in the area of thermodynamics, particularly in the area of critical phenomena and the thermal conductivity of water and steam. His focus has stayed on this area for over 40 years. The work is quite interdisciplinary, crossing from basic physics to engineering applications and standards setting.

In 1989 he began received funding from DOE’s BES program. He is currently working on his third round of DOE funding.

The Research

Dr. Sengers’s research has to do with "critical phenomena" in fluids. The concept of a critical phenomenon in fluids comes from thermodynamics and refers to the behavior of a fluid near a state transition point, such as the transition point of water from liquid to steam. Critical phenomena in fluids have unusual properties such as the rapid dampening of sound waves, the extreme scattering of light, and the divergence of heat capacity and thermal conductivity.

In a journal editorial praising him, Sengers and his work were described as follows:

"Prof. Sengers has concentrated his efforts on the study of critical phenomena. The study has many aspects such as the theoretical explanation of the physics of critical phenomena, rational representation of thermophysical properties, experimental investigation, and the engineering applications of these interesting properties. Prof. Sengers is outstanding since he has made contributions to all of these aspects. On this point we admire him as one of our most prominent leaders in the field of supercritical fluids research.

The most important contribution of Prof. Sengers are his studies to explain the universality of critical phenomena and to establish universal representation of critical behavior, especially of transport modes. Although his treatise often covers a wider range, a large number of paper were focused on the behavior of transport properties at the gas-liquid critical point..."

"On the experimental side, Prof. Sengers has made many important contributions as well. One of these is the measurement of the thermal conductivity of carbon dioxide in the critical region in 1962... It is now considered as one of the epoch making experimental studies in the history of thermophysical property research on fluids.

Prof. Sengers has always kept a sharp eye and broad perspective on engineering interests. As one example of his contribution to engineering developments, his research activities on thermophysical properties of water and steam should be mentioned. Since the early 1970s, he has played a key role in the International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam in establishing the viscosity and the thermal conductivity of water and steam, which are currently used in the power generation industry throughout the world." [Nagashima, Akira, "Guest Editorial," The Journal of Supercritical Fluids, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1991, p.89.]

Thus Prof. Sengers has made contributions to theory, experimentation, and engineering applications. In surveying his historical record, one adjective that comes to mind is focus. He has investigated the same phenomena for his entire professional career of more than four decades. In the list of publications in his resume, his first publication dates back to 1956 and bears the title, "The Thermal Conductivity of Argon Between 0 and 75 at Pressures up to 2500 Atmospheres." Near the end of that same list, his one-hundred-and-fifty-second article, published in 1996, bears the title "The Thermal Conductivity of Methane in the Critical Region." Over a period of forty years his research has consistently focused on variations of such problems. He himself says that he persevered when other scientists warned him away from this area of research.

Funding Sources and Strategies

Dr. Sengers has been successful in attracting funding for his research. His main funding sources have been DOE/BES and NSF, but a number of other smaller grants have also supported his team. His funding since 1982 amounts to over $2 million.

Two characteristics of Dr. Sengers work have characterized his funding. First, he has pursued a strategy of risk management. Second, he has had to cope with the drawbacks caused by the interdisciplinary nature of his work. We begin with risk management.

Dr. Sengers has recognized the risks in relying on any one funding agency to support his work. One risk is that there may be gaps in between successive projects. Even if an agency would continue to fund his work over time, the application, review, and renewal process between successive periods of funding could leave him temporarily without support. A single stream of support is not continuous enough to ensure the smooth operation of his work. Of course, a more serious risk is that of non-renewal. Federal science budgets fluctuate, demand for such funds is sometimes higher than at other times, etc. Renewal of support from an agency is only partly dependent on the excellence of the work performed; for the rest larger factors play a role.

Sengers has managed such risks by relying on funding from multiple sources. Over the years he has relied on two main sources and a few minor sources of funding for his research project. His two main sources are the National Science Foundation (NSF) and DOE/BES. The NSF funding dates back to 1985. Since that time, NSF funding supported him at the level of about $125,000 per year. The NSF was particularly supportive of basic research concerning thermal conductivity at critical points, for this work clearly made fundamental contributions to physics. As discussed below, however, the NSF’s enthusiasm for Sengers’s work declined as the work became more applied, and in 1996 for the first time he did not receive NSF support.

Sengers’ support from DOE/BES began in 1989. He began there with a three-year grant and has since renewed it twice. Although the first renewal was somewhat automatic, since DOE/BES recognized that three years was too short a time to generate significant results, the second renewal followed on favorable peer reviews of his proposal for renewal. DOE/BES is currently his main source of funding.

A number of other funding sources have supported him over the years. Early on he received support from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) . That ended with the Mansfield Amendment, however. He received funding from the National Bureau of Standards, which supported the work for its implications for standards. More recently he has received support from the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society (ACS). This latter grant is relatively small -- $25,000 a year for two years -- but supports a post-doctoral researcher. No university overhead is taken from this grant.

This diversification strategy recently paid off when the NSF balked at renewing funding for his work. The reasons give for non-renewal include concerns about the work, but other factors may be present as well; recent Congressionally mandated budget reductions at NSF created funding shortages at the agency. By not making himself completely dependent on a single funding source he avoided the potentially devastating consequences of this loss of support. DOE/BES funds kept his program running, as did the small ACS grant.

The second important characteristic of Dr. Sengers’ funding has been his difficulties in obtaining support because of the interdisciplinary nature of his work. Since his work does not neatly fit into a single conceptual category, funding agencies that employ such categorical distinctions have at times been less supportive of his work.

NSF is one such agency. In recent years Sengers’ work has gone from investigating the fundamental characteristics of critical points to investigating the practical implications of those fundamental findings. In so doing, the work has gone from pure science to engineering and applied investigation. As a result of this shift, the NSF stopped supporting the work. Of the five reviewers for the most recent funding request, one of them expressed concerns that the work was less pure science and therefore less interesting. That reviewer gave a less-than-top review to the work, and the funding was not granted.

According to Sengers this reflects the category-bound approach of NSF. Their review process leaves program managers unable to exercise discretion and judgment. The process relies on numbers, and once reviewers have assigned their numbers to a proposal the program managers can only tally the results and make or deny awards accordingly.

This contrasts with DOE’s approach. Sengers praised DOE’s more interdisciplinary and less bureaucratic approach. Sengers’ first DOE program manager, Dee Stevenson, was particularly good. Mr. Stevenson set extremely high standards for quality. He was not bound by disciplinary categories and would willingly fund work that crossed many categories. Finally, he was personally interested in the worked that was done by researchers supported by him. He would personally read research papers and could pose well-informed questions to researchers.

This has two results. First, DOE program managers were sufficiently well-informed and sufficiently autonomous to exercise judgment on what they would fund. A project like that of Sengers was favorably received for its own quality and contribution, even if it did not fit neatly into any box. Second, the personal interest of the program manager was a tremendously positive force for motivating the researchers. It stimulated and encouraged them.

Ultimately, DOE fills a niche neglected by NSF. DOE makes interdisciplinary research more respectable and ultimately more fruitful.

The Research Setting: Institute for Physical Science and Technology at Univ of Maryland

The setting for Dr. Sengers’ work is the Institute for Physical Science and Technology (IPST), a research unit within the University of Maryland. This institute provides the framework for the interdisciplinary team performing research. That research team generally numbered around ten or eleven people, from masters students to Dr. Sengers.

As frequently emphasized by Dr. Sengers, his work is fundamentally interdisciplinary, extending from basic science towards engineering applications. This interdisciplinarity is also present in the research group. Unlike many groups with that adjective, Sengers’ group’s interdisciplinarity is both in the group and in the people themselves. Sengers himself is part physicist, part chemist, and part engineer. He combines in himself the skill set of multiple disciplines. His staff and students also combine a wide variety of skills from a similar range of fields, including physics, chemistry, and chemical engineering.

Dr. Sengers clearly occupies the top position in the research team. He has been the principle investigator (PI) on all grants but one. (In a recent grant proposal he was a co-PI with another researcher, but he did this in order to mark his heir apparent at the institute.) The organization of the research team reflects the strong leadership and entrepreneurial talents of the top scientist.

Under Sengers are a number of other researchers. Beginning from the bottom of the ten-person group, his group includes one masters degree candidate and a number of doctoral and post-doctoral students. At any time there are also some visiting scholars from overseas. Since most of these visitors are attracted by the reputation of the lab and require no financial support, they are a low-cost source contribution to research. Some visiting researchers receive support from the institute, most notably visiting Russian scholars. Finally, there are some faculty at the institute, most notably Dr. Anisimov from Russia.

Less directly involved in the research but still affiliated with the institute were other faculty from the UMD. Of the 26 Distinguished University Professors at UMD (the highest level faculty) six were affiliated with IPST.

The institute structure at UMD supports interdisciplinary collaborations. Institutes cross disciplinary boundaries. They also foster excellence, for they are not funded by the university and must prove their merit to attract outside support.

A certain amount of inter-institute collaboration within the university also supports research. In addition to his own IPST Dr. Sengers has affiliations with two other institutes, the Institute for Systems Research (for robotics and process control) and the Biotechnology Institute (for bioengineering.)

The Knowledge Exchange Setting

IPST has many connections outside of UMD with which it engages in a rich exchange of knowledge. In the federal government, the main connection is to the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). Overseas, IPST has strong connections to a research academy in Russia. The institute has connections to the professional field of chemical engineering through an association. Finally, its connections to industry, although not very strong, are realized through an industry-related association, a newsletter, and a UMD business consortium.

Sengers has both personal and professional contacts with NIST. He and his wife came to the U.S. in 1963 to work for NIST. He worked there for five years before leaving for UMD, but his wife stayed and continues working there today. The two of them occasionally co-author papers. In his later years at UMD, Sengers received research funding from NIST.

NIST is the closest thing that Sengers has to a "competitor." Like his institute, NIST produces standards information about the properties of water and steam. These standards are embodied in computer programs that both Sengers and NIST distribute to interested parties. Sengers and NIST sometimes interact directly. For example, he once worked to have NIST included on a committee that was reviewing standard-setting for the viscosity of water.

Sengers characterizes the difference between himself and NIST by saying that he is more committed to scientific research, while they are more user friendly. Sengers’ knowledge of the relevant physics is deeper than that of the NIST scientists. On the other hand when NIST produces a disk with standards programs they include a more user-friendly interface than does Sengers.

IPST’s closest outside collaboration is with a Russian institute, the Moscow Oil and Gas Academy of Sciences. This relationship dates back to the time of the Soviet Union, when Sengers received NSF funding to support collaboration. That collaboration continued after the collapse of the USSR and today is supported from Sengers’ DOE/BES funds.

Sengers characterizes his Russian colleagues as excellent scientists. They have done breakthrough work in the area of light scattering in opaque fluids. They have developed innovative devices capable of performing this functionality. Devices developed in Moscow have been purchased throughout the world, and IPST has recently purchased two.

Sengers has designated one of the Russian researchers, Dr. Mikhail Anisimov, as his heir apparent at IPST. Although still a Russian citizen, Anisimov now has U.S. residency and has brought his family to the U.S. He is not yet a tenured faculty member (not even tenure-track), but Sengers is working to raise his status at UMD. One way of doing this has been to make Anisimov the co-PI on recent research.

Interestingly, the Russian scientists have provided a network that spans across different US research institutions. Anisimov has a Russian colleague who now is working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Based on this connection some of the IPST scientists will visit Oak Ridge in the summer of 1997.

Another set of outside connections is to associations. Since the early 1970s Sengers has been active in the International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam (IAPWS) , which provides engineering information for power industries worldwide. There he has worked to establish the viscosity and thermal conductivity of water and steam, knowledge which is currently used in the power generation industry throughout the world. He is also active with the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

Sengers and his group does not have many direct links to industry. He feels that industry’s interest in universities is to have them serve as job shops, a role that would not contribute to his research activities. What links he does have occur primarily through three ties. His work on water and steam at IAPWS is highly relevant to the power industry and has brought him into contact with firms like Westinghouse, General Electric, and Siemens. The two other industry ties occur through an environmental newsletter published by IPST and by an industry consortium organized as part of UMD’s industry liaison activities. These are not very strong links, however.

Outputs/Knowledge Products

IPST’s main outputs are research articles in refereed journals. In his lifetime he has published over 150 refereed articles. Since 1989 fifty-five papers have been published from DOE-supported research. Sengers counts these as his main product of research.

Sengers has trained many graduate students and post-doctoral associates. In his first 28 years at UMD he trained 21 Ph.D. students and 2 M.S. students.

Together with another scientist, Sengers founded the International Journal of Thermophysics in 1979. The impetus for founding it came from his need for an outlet for his interdisciplinary work. In the eighteen years since its founding it has become an influential journal. The other founder, Dr. A. Cezairliyan, now works at NIST.

IPST contributes to standards-setting. As noted above in the opening quote, his research establishing the viscosity and the thermal conductivity of water and steam are currently used in the power generation industry throughout the world.

IPST also produces and distributes the diskettes containing the equations for the properties of water. He characterizes these as a "minor" output compared to the journal articles.

An environmental newsletter is also published by IPST. Among the 175 subscribers are a number of industrial firms.

He has not attempted to patent his work. UMD has also not sought patents.

Impacts/Knowledge Use

The biggest impacts of his work is in the field of science. Sengers’ has made contributions to theory, to experimentation, and to applications.

Experiments by him and his collaborators confirmed certain theoretical aspects of critical phenomena. In so doing, they paved the way for the awarding of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics to the Kenneth Wilson.

The standards he has helped define are used by power engineers throughout the world. The power-generation industry has benefitted from his research on thermal conductivity.

His former students have gone to both academic and industry positions. Former students serve on the faculty of the University of Waterloo, Wayne State University, and West University. Many other students work in industry, including the software industry.