Awards

Kirk T. Mescher Award

Background

The engineering profession is characterized by an environment that can stifle innovation and reward the “plain vanilla” or “safe” approach to design. This award is in memory of Kirk T Mescher, PE, an engineer who specialized in HVAC but whose real forte was innovation. Kirk’s design ideas are clever in and of themselves but the courage to implement them in projects and freely share the results underscores his exemplary service to our industry.

Kirk started GSHP design in 1993 - prior to ASHRAE publishing design criteria for GSHP. He designed and constructed his own test rig for ground thermal properties testing. He developed the one pipe distribution system for GSHP systems and extended its application from individual building to campus scale. He pioneered ground loop designs that eliminated the use of costly valve vaults and associated manifolds along with outside air handling designs that permitted the use of standard heat pumps for this duty. His GSHP designs consistently achieved DOE scores in the 90’s percentile. Active in ASHRAE at all levels he achieved Fellow status, Distinguished Service, Exceptional Service, served as chair of the Society Program Committee, Conferences Committee, TC 5.5 (Air-to-Air Heat Recovery) was a member of TC 6.8 and served as an ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer.

Potential Applicants - The Award this year is $2,000.

Applicants for the award could include Practicing Engineers interested in attending a GSHP course from ASHRAE or other provider or for purchase of design software, books, tools, etc. Teaching faculty interested in developing course material on GSHP or otherwise providing GSHP information to students. Students interested in a career in HVAC and interested in attending an ASHRAE Conference or course addressing GSHP. Applicants could also include Practicing Engineers, Teaching Faculty, or Students who have an idea for an elegant way to be more energy efficient and could use this award to test the idea(s) and put the idea(s) into practice.

The award will be administered through the ASHRAE St Louis Chapter with support of the GWA.

Kirk T Mescher Award 2022

The 2022 recipient of the Kirk T Mescher Award is Masik Alavy, a postdoc fellow at Ontario Tech University. Dr Alavy earned his PhD at the University of Toronto in 2019. The award was presented to Dr Alavy on Tuesday, February 7, 2023 by the Toronto ASHRAE Chapter. Dr Alavy is a member of TC6.8, a main contributor to ASHRAE RP1649, and the lead inventor of the " Thermal Caisson." He shared that he is planning to use his award to purchase a license for Ansys Fluent to develop a numerical model for this work.

CONTRIBUTIONS

Please make the check out to "Pershing LLC" and note ASHRAE/KTM Award on the memo line.

Then mail directly to:
Renaissance Financial
5700 Oakland Ave #400
Attn: John Bayer
St. Louis, Mo 63110

Kirk T. Mescher Award Application

The Kirk T. Mescher Award was established in 2015 after the tragic loss of one of the brightest and most innovative LEED certified engineers, Kirk Mescher of CM Engineering. It was Kirk's passion to find new and creative ways to make projects as energy efficient but as simplistic as possible. So in his honor, this award will be given out to professional engineers, teaching faculty, and engineering students who have that same passion. Applicants should have an idea in GSHP, HVAC, or energy efficiency that is simple and elegant and should want to put that idea to the test. The award will be administered through the ASHRAE St. Louis Chapter and is currently available to ASHRAE Members.

Please email a copy of your application to lisa@meline.com or mail a copy of your application to Lisa Meline, P.O. Box 276665 Sacramento, CA 95827. Application Form PDF download.