College of Engineering Mourns the Passing of Jeffrey M. Davis

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As the loving parents of Chemical Engineering (ChE) Professor Jeffrey M. Davis wrote in their obituary for the Springfield Republican, “Our brilliant, accomplished, and thoughtful son, Jeffrey Davis, passed away on August 30, 2023. He had been valiantly fighting cancer for a year.” In an equally fitting tribute, College of Engineering Dean Sanjay Raman said that “Jeff Davis will be remembered as a beloved colleague, exceptional teacher and mentor, and a brilliant scholar with deep knowledge in the areas of fluid mechanics and applied mathematics.”

According to Interim ChE Department Head Dimitrios Maroudas, “The passing of Jeff Davis is a devastating loss for our Chemical Engineering community, and our sadness for his premature passing can hardly be described. Jeff was only 26 years old when he joined our faculty and remained the kindest person to interact with throughout his tenure. He was a brilliant mind and an exceptional teacher-scholar.”

Maroudas added that “He had a deep knowledge in his field of research and was one of the best teachers of transport phenomena the chemical engineering profession has ever produced, with an unparalleled ability to make complex processes and concepts accessible to our students. Everyone in our community who had the good fortune to interact with Jeff will always remember him with warmth and admiration.”

Davis was valedictorian at Cathedral High School in Springfield and went on to graduate with a perfect GPA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he majored in chemical engineering and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University, where he continued his record of academic excellence in his area of expertise: fluid mechanics and mathematics.

During his 20 years at UMass Amherst, Davis made significant contributions to the dynamics of thin liquid films on heterogeneous surfaces, interfacial flows, hydrodynamic stability, and microscale flows involving the dynamic interaction of microparticles with nano-textured surfaces.

Davis conducted research in the general area of physical applied mathematics, with applications primarily in fluid mechanics and transport phenomena. The focus of his research was the development and solution of mathematical models to provide a fundamental understanding of the underlying physics. A significant area of his interest was microscale-fluid dynamics involving heterogeneous surfaces for which interfacial effects are important.

As Davis once explained, “For liquid films, this heterogeneity can result from chemical patterning, topographical variations, and differential heating of the substrate, all of which led to significant deviations from fluidic behavior on uniform surfaces. Flows over these non-uniform surfaces are crucial to applications that include microfluidic-analytical devices and sensors, micro-electro-mechanical systems, and micro-fabrication processes.”

Before his death, Davis was nearing the completion of a comprehensive textbook on fluid mechanics and heat and mass transfer.

Among other major awards, Davis earned a prestigious Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, a renowned National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a UMass Amherst Distinguished Teaching Award, and a UMass Amherst Chancellor’s Leadership Fellow Award.

The UMass Distinguished Teaching Award, in particular, is the highest honor on campus for classroom excellence, and the Chancellor’s Leadership Fellow program is designed to prepare future campus leaders. Davis also garnered another prominent honor from UMass Amherst, the Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Research and Creative Activities.

A partial list of other honors received by Davis includes the Outstanding Junior Faculty Award and the Outstanding Teacher Award from the College of Engineering, a Lilly Teaching Fellowship, and a 3M Nontenured Faculty Award.

In his personal life Davis was an avid tennis fan, an excellent clarinetist, and an accomplished skier.

One of the former students of Davis, Liz Tyburski, submitted this remembrance on the Mass Live website: “Professor Davis was not only the smartest, but most compassionate, professor I had at UMass.”

According to another former student of Davis, Bobby Johnson, “Professor Davis is well known for his incredible brilliance. Through 22 years of school, he stands at the intellectual top of all the teachers and professors I have ever met. Amazingly, this is not the most remarkable thing about Jeff, but rather his unmatched kindness.”

It is with similar fondness, respect, and appreciation that the ChE department, the college, and the university will remember Jeff Davis. (September 2023)