BBorn July 20, 1935, Louis C. Burmeister received his B.Sc. and M.Sc in Mechanical Engineering at Kansas State University in 1957 and 1959. He received his Ph.D at Purdue University in 1966. He was appointed Assistant Professor in the department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kansas in 1965 and Professor in 1975.

Research interests for Professor Burmeister have included heat transfer, convective transport, transient film boiling, and numerical methods for solution of partial differential equations. He has published dozens of articles throughout his career and received numerous grants and awards for his research. He was awarded a Standard Oil (Indiana) Foundation Distinguished Teaching Award in 1969 and a ASEE-NASA Stanford-Ames Summer Fellowship in 1967.

Burmeister's numerous professional memberships include the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, K-12 Aerospace Heat Transfer Committee, and the American Institute of Aeronautics.Through active participation as a Lecturer and other guest speaker opportunities, Burmeister has been an important voice in the pedagogy of Mechanical Engineering. He has been a professional consultant to industry.