Dr Rousseau holds a B.Eng, M.Eng and PhD in Engineering from the University of Pretoria and is a graduate of the OPM executive education program at Harvard Business School.  He is a full professor and holds the Voigt Chair in Thermofluid Systems Modelling in the department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.  He has also served as professor and SARChI Research Chair in Nuclear Engineering, Head of Mechanical Engineering and Director/Deputy Dean of Research in the Faculty of Engineering at North‑West University, professor and Director of the Applied Thermofluid Process Modelling Research Unit (ATProM) at the University of Cape Town, as well as associate professor at the University of Pretoria.

He has been involved with engineering education since 1989 and has lectured courses in Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, Thermal Fluid Systems Design, Experimental Methods, Thermofluids, Power Plant Systems Analysis and Power Plant Boilers.  He has in the past received the student council award for best lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering at North‑West University.

He has published more than 160 papers in scientific journals and conference proceedings and co-authored two chapters in text books, namely on heat pump system design and optimisation, and on CFD and systems thermal hydraulic analysis of high temperature nuclear reactors.  He has served as study leader for more than 70 postgraduate students.  His students have won the S2A3 medal for the best Masters degree in science and engineering at North-West University, the I Harry Mandil award for the best Masters degree in Nuclear Science and Engineering, as well as an award for one of the top three papers presented at the European Nuclear Education Network PhD event in 2009.

He was co-author of the second most cited paper in the international journal Nuclear Engineering and Design between 2010 and 2015.  He has served on the editorial boards of the international journals ‘Building and Environment’ and ‘Nuclear Engineering and Design’ and he holds a C‑rating from the National Research Foundation.  He was the initiator and project leader of the South African team taking part in the collaborative research project with the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) on System Analysis of the Passive Safe Small Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor.

He is a registered professional engineer and a co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer of M‑Tech Industrial (Pty) Ltd., a commercial engineering firm specializing in thermofluid systems design as well as the development of the thermofluid process modelling software Flownex^® SE.  He has served on the Board of Directors of several private engineering companies as well as the Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa (NIASA).

He was overall responsible as the technical lead for the design of the Heat Transfer Test Facility (HTTF) that formed part of PBMR’s thermofluid phenomena test plan.  He was a member of the Flownex^® SE software development team, which has sold licenses in the USA, Europe and Asia, and in this capacity he has presented industry training courses in South Africa, the USA and Japan.

Innovations that emanated from his research include a range of in-line heat pump water heating systems, of which several megawatts are now installed in South African residential and commercial buildings, as well as a novel Air Cooling Unit for underground mine cooling which is now used extensively in mines operated by South Africa’s major mining houses. 

Dr Rousseau’s current research interest is the development of process models, simulation methodologies, and machine learning methods for the integrated analysis, design and optimization of thermofluid energy systems and its components, to improve system flexibility, availability and efficiency.