Frank M. White is Professor Emeritus of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering at the University of Rhode Island. He studied at Georgia Tech and M.I.T. In 1966 he helped found, at URI, the first department of ocean engineering in the country. Known primarily as a teacher and writer, he has received eight teaching awards and has written four textbooks on fluid mechanics and heat transfer.

From 1979 to 1990 he was editor-in-chief of the ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering and then served from 1991 to 1997 as chairman of the ASME Board of Editors and of the Publications Committee. He is a Fellow of ASME and in 1991 received the ASME Fluids Engineering Award. He lives with his wife, Jeanne, in Narragansett, Rhode Island.