Roy Issa
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Office: Engineering Building 221P
Email: rissa@wtamu.edu
Phone: 806-651-2561
Professional Profile
Dr. Issa is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at West Texas A&M University. He joined the College of Engineering in 2004. His background is in the area of thermal-fluid sciences, particularly in single and multi-phase heat transfer. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Issa worked four years in the aerospace industry and eight years in the steel rolling industry. His work experience in the aerospace industry included lift-off load studies on the shuttle system, assembly of space station Freedom, and hydraulic line model developments of the thrust vector control system. While working in the steel industry, he conducted extensive studies on the cooling of rolls and flat products in the hot strip mill, and mill torsional vibration and torque amplification studies. He is a co-inventor on a US patent on the rolling of flat products.
Teaching and Related Service
Dr. Issa's teaching interests are in the area of thermal-fluid sciences such as heat transfer, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and thermal-fluid design. He also enjoys teaching courses from the solids area such as mechanical vibration and robotics.
Dr. Issa has served on numerous university committees such as Faculty Senate, College and University Tenure and Promotion Committees, Academic Appeals Committee, Undergraduate Admissions Appeals Committee, Faculty Grievance Committee, Prestigious Scholarship Committee and Study Abroad Committee. He also served on several international committees such as Austrian-American Fulbright Commission Students Interview Panel in Vienna, and Fulbright U.S. Scholars Peer Review Committees for several years.
Dr. Issa is a member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and Pi Tau Sigma International Mechanical Engineering Honor Society.
Research and Creative Activity
Dr. Issa’s academic activities focus on conducting research in areas that are important to the industry but is fundamental in nature such as using multiphase air-mist cooling in the quenching of metals for the steel industry, tempering of glass for the auto industry, and chilling of beef carcasses for the meat processing industry. In addition, he has conducted studies on sustainable energy systems such as wind towers for indoor cooling, green roofs, active solar distillation systems, and the incorporation of phase change materials in conventional building walls. His recent studies focused on the enhancement of the thermal transport in heat exchanger systems using nanofluids. Dr. Issa is an author and co-author of over 50 journal and conference papers in the area of heat transfer and fluid dynamics. He was selected a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Austria in 2016 and has done several summer trips to Austria since then.