Solomon Adera, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, has been awarded the 2025 Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc. Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
The award recognizes “outstanding contribution by an individual, company, government entity, school, or other organization toward developing and implementing practices, processes, and programs that value and promote inclusiveness of all people.”
Adera was awarded the medal for “excellence in research, teaching, mentoring, and professional contributions to ASME, InterPACK, and ITherm Conferences; and for extensive and distinguished service to students.”
“It is a true honor and a privilege to be the 2025 ASME Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc. Medal Recipient,” Adera said. “I would also like to thank my letter writers for taking the time to support this nomination.”
Adera’s research focuses on heat and mass transfer, thermal management, micro/nanofabrication, fluid-structure interaction, and wetting science. Both in and out of the classroom, he values mentorship and service as key parts of his role as an educator.
As an assistant professor and principal investigator of the Energy Transport Lab, Adera has mentored more than 40 graduate and undergraduate students since joining U-M in 2020. He believes engaging undergraduate students in direct research experience early in their careers helps to produce motivated graduate students and enhances classroom learning.
Additionally, Adera serves as a mentor to community college transfer students through the Transfer Connections mentoring program, providing both academic mentoring and emotional support for his mentees. He is also a faculty advisor/mentor for two student groups, M-HEAL Solar Fridge and M-HEAL The Initiative. Both groups are focused on developing engineering products and solutions that benefit low-resource communities.
