Rate My Professor Francis Vanek

Francis Vanek is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University’s College of Engineering. Born in Ithaca, New York, he received bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Asian Studies (Japanese language concentration) from Cornell in 1991. He then pursued graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, earning an M.S. in 1995 and a Ph.D. in 1998 in Systems Engineering, with his dissertation focusing on the environmental impacts of freight transport and logistics. From 1998 to 2001, Vanek was a Lecturer in Logistics Management at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. Since 2001, he has been at Cornell, where he advises Master of Engineering projects, teaches courses on sustainable transportation systems, renewable energy, engineering economics, green building, and small-scale solar cooking for developing countries, and conducts research on energy systems.

Vanek’s research specializations include energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions from freight transportation, feasibility of alternative energy systems, and integration of transportation energy supply with renewable sources. He is the lead author of two influential textbooks: Energy Systems Engineering: Evaluation and Implementation (4th edition, 2021, McGraw-Hill, co-authored with Lou Albright, Lars Angenent, Mike Ellis, and Dave Dillard) and Sustainable Transportation Systems Engineering (2014, McGraw-Hill, co-authored with Lars Angenent, James Banks, Ricardo Daziano, and Mark Turnquist). Key publications also encompass “A Global Assessment of Hydrogen for Future Automotive Transportation: Projected Energy Requirements and CO2 Emissions” (2011, International Journal of Sustainable Transportation), “Systems Engineering Metrics and Applications in Product Development” (2008, Systems Engineering), and “Clean energy for green buildings: an overview of on- and off-site alternatives” (2007, Journal of Green Building). Vanek contributes to sustainability initiatives as a Faculty Fellow at the Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures, a Cornell Atkinson Fellow, and through service on President Skorton’s Committee for a Sustainable Campus energy committee. He engages in community outreach via the Ecovillage at Ithaca, where he has resided since 2002, and supports renewable energy development in local and international contexts, including solar cooking in Central America.