The Center was founded in 1988 with a grant from the estate of Richard W. Kritzer, the son of the founder of Peerless of America, Inc.; a grant from the Illinois Governor’s Science Advisory Council for laboratory facilities, and support from the National Science Foundation of the United States. The ACRC now operates with the support of approximately 30 industrial partners organized in the consortium who provide funding for the “core” research program, and with grants and contracts from a range of governmental and private sector sponsors for additional projects. This successful collaboration between industry and academia has evolved into the longest-running center in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and among the handful longest –running founded by NSF. To date, the center has produced more than 400 technical and contract reports. To date, the ACRC has educated more than 1000 students and their work has resulted in more than 400 S and PhDs the areas of thermal and fluid sciences. Over 100 visiting scholars from all around the world achieved additional education contributing to the mission of the Center.
- 1988 Co-founding Directors C. Bullard and R. Crawford
- 1991 Director C. Bullard
- 1997 Director C. Bullard and Associate Directors A. Jacobi & P. Hrnjak
- 2001 Co- Directors P. Hrnjak and A. Jacobi
- 2015 Director P.Hrnjak
- 2018 Director P. Hrnjak and Associate Directors S. Elbel & N. Miljkovic
- 2022 Co- Directors S. Elbel & N. Miljkovic