Countercurrent

Skills for a countercurrent engineering career

Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I am an MIT reject, but it was likely one of the best things that ever happened to me. Instead, I was accepted into the engineering program at CMU,¹ where you were admitted into two different degree programs and had to choose one at the end of your first year. I was offered electrical and computer engineering (ECE) and chemical engineering (CHE). After taking introductory courses in both, the choice of CHE was clear to me. It is, from my experience, the broadest engineering discipline, with mechanical engineering a close second. I wanted concepts and skills that would give me access to a broad range of future jobs, and the combination of physics, chemistry, math, and team project work in CHE was the best fit. The software/hardware aspects of ECE did appeal to me, but I realized that what I was actually interested in was computer science, not electrical engineering. Those skills were still accessible through a minor or double major, where I chose the latter.

Publications

Sat, 18 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A selection of both my recent and highest-impact peer-reviewed publications. You can find out more about my research here with a complete list of publications available here.

Multiphase Flow & Reactors
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A Fazeli, S Rhebergen, NM Abukhdeir (2026). Laminar dispersion force effects on two-fluid modelling and simulation of bubble column hydrodynamics. International Journal of Multiphase Flow, 197, 105590. link
AA Vasile, MG Aucoin, H Budman, NM Abukhdeir (2026). Flow alignment-informed method for compartmental modelling of multiphase flows. Chemical Engineering Science, 231, 744–759. link

Why I chose a countercurrent career

Sat, 18 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

My career started off in a relatively orthodox way. Coming from a family with modest means, I did not want to take risks early in my career. When I started my undergraduate degree at CMU¹ I made sure to learn as many technical and employable skills as possible, which led me to choose chemical engineering as a major at the end of my first year.² I had a simple career plan: prepare for a well-paying, secure job with the potential to transition into technical management.

About

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I am an academic and a practicing engineer. More information about my teaching, research, and professional practice is available elsewhere — this site is for something different. Through my job and other roles, I spend a substantial amount of time thinking about the future, sometimes my own future, but mostly the future of young people who are finding their way towards fulfilling and productive technical careers. For better or for worse, the path that I have taken and advocate for others to take towards these goals is frequently different than the orthodox approach.

Disclaimers

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

All views, opinions, and content published on this website are my own, expressed in a personal capacity, and do not represent the positions, policies, or opinions of any organization with which I am affiliated, employed, or collaborating. This includes — without limitation — the University of Waterloo, the Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo (FAUW), any industrial or corporate partners, any not-for-profit organizations, and any funding agencies.

Nothing on this website constitutes professional engineering advice, opinion, or services within the meaning of the Professional Engineers Act (R.S.O. 1990, c. P.28). Content is provided for informational and educational purposes only. No content on this site creates an engineer–client relationship, and I assume no duty of care to readers in connection with any material published here. Readers should consult a qualified professional before acting on any information presented.

Software

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I am involved in several open-source software and hardware projects, both through collaborations in my research group and professionally.

OpenCMP
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OpenCMP is a discontinuous Galerkin finite element method (DG-FEM) multiphysics simulation package for single and multiphase processes, built on the NGSolve DG-FEM library. It supports coupled multiphase fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, and chemical/biochemical reactions.

Repository: github.com/uw-comphys/opencmp
Publication: Monte et al. (2022), OpenCMP: An Open-Source Computational Multiphysics Package, Journal of Open Source Software. DOI

OpenCCM
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OpenCCM is a CFD-informed compartment modelling package for convection-dominated flow processes with (bio)chemical reactions. It is designed to be compatible with OpenCMP and OpenFOAM CFD simulation flow data, enabling reduced-order modelling of large-scale reactors and process equipment.

Countercurrent

Skills for a countercurrent engineering career

Publications

Multiphase Flow & Reactors #

Why I chose a countercurrent career

About

Disclaimers

Software

OpenCMP #

OpenCCM #

Multiphase Flow & Reactors
#

OpenCMP
#

OpenCCM
#