HTRI Training - Global Headquarters

Principal Engineer, Software Development, brings nearly ten years of mechanical and thermal design experience to HTRI. He graduated from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA, with a BS in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. As a heat transfer specialist with Fluor Enterprises, Inc., Sugar Land, Texas, USA, Browning worked on projects for the chemical, petrochemical, upstream oil and gas, and downstream refining industries in the United States, Canada, the Middle East, and Australia. He is also the developer of Exchanger Optimizer, software designed to help process plants maximize resources and reduce costs by modeling and comparing different exchanger configurations rapidly. HTRI has exclusive distribution rights for Exchanger Optimizer and is working with Browning to commercialize this product. In addition, Browning will work on our existing software products and help develop other complementary programs.

Regional Sales Manager, USA/Canada, graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA. While working at the Shuttle Support Thermal Control Systems Analysis Group of Rockwell International, Houston, Texas, he performed thermal analyses for the space shuttle and developed geometry models for the shuttle/space station. From 1994 – 1999, Starks was employed at HTRI, developing calculation engines for our software as well as a quality control database to track program changes. He then moved to Austin, Texas, to work as the Software Engineering Manager for Tanisys Technology, Inc., a supplier of automated test equipment for semiconductor memory technologies. When he rejoined HTRI, Starks was responsible for enhancements to the Xist calculation engine. He now leads sales efforts in the United States and Canada and assists with HTRI’s training initiatives.

Group Lead, Research, earned his MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. During his graduate studies, he was a Research Assistant at the Laboratory for Experimental Fluid Dynamics, where he worked on projects involving turbulence, fluid structure interaction, and oceanography using high-speed imaging, particle image velocimetry, and holography. His dissertation research focused on elucidating coherent structures in the nearwall region for a rough channel flow, and understanding the key biophysical interactions in the coastal ocean. Talapatra also holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute for Technology, Kharagpur, India. At HTRI, his primary research responsibilities are focused on qualitative and quantitative flow visualization and laser anemometry used to examine two-phase flow.