James Kamm

Trine University – Allen School of Engineering and Computing
Assistant Professor
BS Physics, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA;
PhD Aeronautical and Astronomical Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
260-665-4233 | kammj@trine.edu

I went to college in the Department of Physics because my father advised me that it would be a good access for a graduate program in engineering. I entered graduate school at The Ohio State University in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and won a four year NASA Fellowship. My PhD thesis dealt with a solution for the trajectory of a satellite through a double star system and I immediately went to work for NASA at the Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson) in Houston, TX. My department was evaluating Space Shuttle concepts by building a computer program to optimize Shuttle ascent to orbit. Once this project was complete, I went into teaching and research in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Toledo. They needed a climate control instructor and I became that for 35 years. During that time, I did significant research in energy and energy conservation techniques. In 1995, I published an analysis of why drawers were a more efficient choice for household refrigerators than doors. 20 years later, drawers became a feature if the freezer section of refrigerators. During this time, I wrote the textbook Heat and Power Thermodynamics published by DelMar Press.

I am a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers and have served as local President, Director of TriState Region, Life Member, and Fellow. I wrote the ASHRAE On-Line Learning Course in Psychrometrics.

I founded JamesKamm Technologies in 1986 to develop, manufacture, and sell a device of my design for the extraction of refrigerant from appliances, which was mandated by the US EPA in response to the threat of an atmospheric ozone hole. I sold the company after many successful years of manufacturing in 2000.

I have had many awards throughout the years, including awards for teaching, for entrepreneurship, and for engineering development. In 1990 I was voted the Toledo Engineer of the year.

I am excited to bring my career full circle back to aeronautics at Trine University.