Reid A. Berdanier has been named director of the Steady Thermal Aero Research Turbine (START) Lab at Penn State, effective Aug. 15. Berdanier succeeds founding director Karen Thole, who is now dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. 

The START Lab was founded as the most advanced turbine testing lab in the U.S.through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Lab (DOE-NETL), Pratt & Whitney and Penn State. The turbine testing facility was designed to perform turbine aerodynamic and heat transfer studies, along with instrumentation development and integration of additive manufacturing to increase the speed in advancing turbine research. With these capabilities, the START facility has a strong track record of directly impacting products through research with proprietary vanes and blades. Moreover, through collaborative support by DOE-NETL and industry partners, the START team also created the National Experimental Turbine (NExT) as a research vehicle for future turbine research and development.