AndreaPickel

Andrea Pickel
Assistant Professor

Research Areas
Research Interests

Nanoscale heat transfer; nanothermometry; single-nanoparticle and super-resolution luminescence imaging and spectroscopy; device thermal management; operando thermal characterization for catalysis applications

About

Andrea Pickel joined the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin in January 2026. Her research focuses on harnessing luminescent probes and spectroscopic techniques to develop micro- and nanoscale thermal metrology for challenging operating environments. Current applications of interest include device thermal management, catalysis, and crystallization.

Pickel is the recipient of an American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (ACS PRF) Doctoral New Investigator Award (2020), a Furth Fund Award (2021), and an NSF CAREER Award (2022), and she was named a Scialog Fellow for Automating Chemical Laboratories (2024). Her teaching contributions have been recognized with the G. Graydon Curtis ’58 and Jane W. Curtis Award for Non-Tenured Faculty Teaching (2023).

She received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2019, where she was supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Fellowship. She received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with University and College Honors from Carnegie Mellon University in 2014. Prior to joining UT Austin, she was an Assistant Professor at the University of Rochester from 2019–2025.

Educational Qualifications

  • Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of California Berkeley, 2019
  • B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 2014

Select Awards & Honors

  • Scialog Fellow for Automating Chemical Laboratories (2024)
  • G. Graydon Curtis ’58 and Jane W. Curtis Award for Non-Tenured Faculty Teaching (2023)
  • National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2022)
  • Furth Fund Award (2021)
  • American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (ACS PRF) Doctoral New Investigator Award (2020)
  • Rising Stars in Mechanical Engineering, MIT (2018)
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (2016)
  • UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Fellowship (2014)
  • Semiconductor Research Corporation Undergraduate Research Opportunities Scholar (2012)

Select Publications

google scholar

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