Pratik Deokar, a Texas-based Indian American research engineer received the George B. Hightower Technical Achievement Award at the 2026 ASHRAE Annual Conference in Austin, Texas.
Deokar’s accolade at the annual conference of ASHRAE, an international society of more than 50,000 heating, refrigerating and air-conditioning professionals from over 132 nations, recognizes excellence in volunteer service across technical committees, technical groups, and technical research group activities.
Deokar’s journey within global building sciences reflects strong academic and technical foundations is rooted in his background as an international student from India.
He completed his early technical training before moving to the United States to pursue advanced specializations in mechanical and systems engineering. He earned a master’s degree from Oklahoma State University in 2013 and later completed a doctorate at Auburn University in 2019.
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Deokar’s academic and professional portfolio reveals a deep expertise in thermal management, heat transfer, and complex fluid dynamics. His doctoral research evaluated the experimental properties of two-phase flow boiling heat transfer, focusing on how mixtures of refrigerants and nanolubricants behave inside smooth copper tubes.
By testing how minute nanoparticle additives impact pressure drops and thermal performance, Deokar’s research advanced fundamental industry knowledge regarding modern vapor compression cycles and refrigeration systems.
Today, Deokar channels that theoretical knowledge into industrial application, working as a research engineer for the air conditioning division of Rheem Manufacturing Company in Lewisville, Texas.
His operational contributions have directly translated into proprietary industry intellectual property, including co-inventing patented systems designed for heat exchange and handling condensation in climate control systems.
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An active contributor to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers for over a decade, Deokar has routinely dedicated time to refining technical methodologies outside his corporate responsibilities.
The Hightower award celebrates this specific focus on volunteerism, recognizing the rigorous engineering evaluation required to advance global building energy modeling and HVAC system performance.
For Indian American engineering professionals, Deokar’s milestone represents the critical role technical experts play in steering international industry standards toward better mechanical efficiency.