Peyman Givi's Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Laboratory at UB may be internationally recognized for its production of premier methodologies for prediction of turbulent reacting flows, but the lab's most valuable export, the director swears, isn't research alone.

Givi's seemingly infinite pride is for his graduate students doing research in the areas of theoretical and computation fluid dynamics, combustion and propulsion who, after leaving UB, come into their own as academics and researchers at top institutions throughout the country, receive prestigious awards and-in many cases-revel in greater renown than their teacher.

	Graduate students like (from left) Cosmin Safta, Reza Sheikhi and Tomasz Drozda, pictured with advisor Peyman Givi, have brought the Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory much acclaim.
	photo: Stephanie Hamberger

"Even though I have directed many students in different fields in my labs, each one of them in their fields right now is better recognized than myself," says the professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, who has been with UB for 13 years. Clearly not a bone of contention for the accomplished researcher, Givi says their recognition is his greatest honor.

"When they go out, they are top-notch scientists," Givi says. "That is a reflection of not just me, but also, all of our faculty. They have been educated here, they go out and on their curriculum vitae it says their Ph.D. is from UB, and that puts us on the map."

That map clearly is marked with 10 of Givi's graduates-situated across the country at Top 10 universities such as Purdue and the University of Minnesota, and at Fluent Inc., the world's leading commercial CFD company-who have amassed honors ranging from National Science Foundation CAREER awards to the Office of Naval Research's Young Investigator awards.

A native of Iran, Givi says his doctoral students have been bombarded with offers and have been able to select their No. 1 job choice as a result. As well, he points out, it is unusual for so many graduates from the same laboratory to go on and earn such celebrated honors.

Beaming like a proud papa, Givi makes the comparison to family.

"Once you get a new graduate student, and through the time they finish their Ph.D., you see them more than you see your kids," he says. "You live with them, day and night, you are talking and fighting and having fun."

In the end, intimates Givi, you want to turn out someone of whom you can be proud.

"Being a good researcher and accomplishing a lot as a professor-that's something we are all expected to do, otherwise we wouldn't be here, right?" he asks. "Instead of working at the university, we could have been working in a research laboratory. At the university, you have to do (research) in conjunction with producing high-quality students."

While other schools may tout incoming graduate students for their stellar grade-point averages or high GRE scores, the CFD lab is interested in students' academic and research portfolios on the way out.

"In our laboratory, we brag about what happens to our graduate students after they get their Ph.D.s," Givi says.

"And from that point of view, I really do not know any other program that has done better than us," he says. "These are the people who have given us all of the visibility in the world."

Hailing from a family full of scientists, Givi says he always knew he wanted to be involved in theoretical and computational research-although he confesses early aspirations of becoming a virtuoso on guitar were quashed quickly by his lack of talent. Not giving up entirely, Givi says he's played classical and flamenco guitar since he was 6 or 7 years old. The guitar in his office, a music stand nearby, Givi practices one hour a day-crediting the complicated fingerwork involved with helping to settle wandering matter in his head.

"To worry about (what) eight to 10 of your fingers are doing at the same time really helps me to think," he says.

"Amazing concentration is required," he intones, noting that once he's attempted- for example-a tremolo on his guitar, solving complex equations seems only half as difficult. "It organizes my thought in my work."

Even for the most musically devoted, he explains, attitude cannot supplant talent. But for engineers, Givi says, success rests almost completely in attitude.

"My claim is anybody who has an interest in engineering can get their Ph.D.," he says, but not without qualifying that claim. "The thing that people have to realize-it is not just getting your Ph.D., it is what you do with it."

In a sea of competition marked by graduates of MIT, Stanford and the like, Givi says pursuing a doctorate is all about the student's "own willingness to become the best."

"If they are interested," he says, "we can work with them."

Givi points out that being savvy about the competition-not just within UB, but nationally and internationally-and having the desire and vision to become the No. 1 person in your field are paramount to marketability.

"We have come up with the ways that would facilitate for people how to calculate what is going on inside of the engines of planes, cars and other devices involving turbulent combustion," says Givi of the research in his lab. "That's the reason why our students are so marketable. They're not just doing the kind of research you can only do on paper-they're working on something that is of interest (to) both industry and government laboratories."

Clearly, Givi is passionate about his students-and unlike his faithful guitar practice, the rewards of which Givi gladly acknowledges have been slight over the course of his lifetime-the fruits of his laboratory labor are much more apparent.

"The thing that is very tangible-and you see it right away-is the visibility and success of the alumni of the program," he says. "And I think that's a selling point for the new students who want to come in."