People

TAREK ZOHDI

CEO, Principal

Tarek I. Zohdi received his Ph.D. in 1997 in Computational and Applied Mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin and his Habilitation in General Mechanics (Allgemeine Mechanik) from Gottfried Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany, in 2002. He is currently a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Chair of the Designated Emphasis Program in Computational and Data Science and Engineering, Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering, and holder of the W. C. Hall Family Endowed Chair in Engineering at UC Berkeley. He also holds a Faculty Scientist position at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and is Faculty Director of the Richmond Field Station.

MARK ASTA

Principal

Mark currently serves as Interim Dean in the College of Engineering, UC Berkeley, and is a faculty member in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Professor Asta joined the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Berkeley in January 2010 after serving as a staff scientist at Sandia National Laboratories and as a member of the faculties at Northwestern University and the University of California, Davis. Professor Asta has previously served as Department Chair of Materials Science and Engineering at Berkeley, Executive Associate Dean of Engineering at UC Berkeley, and Director of the Materials Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Simo Mäkiharju

Principal

Professor Mäkiharju joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at Berkeley in January 2016. His undergraduate studies were in Energy Technology at the Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. He earned his Mechanical Engineering M.Sc. from The Ohio State University in 2005 and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 2012. His graduate research focused on reducing hydrodynamic drag via gas injection and developing time-resolved X-ray densitometry imaging systems for multiphase flows. At Berkeley, he leads experimental research on high–Reynolds-number single- and multiphase flows using hyperspectral imaging combined with advanced data analytics.

PETER HOSEMANN

Principal

Professor Peter Hosemann earned his Ph.D. in Materials Science from the Montanuniversität Leoben (Austria) in 2008, followed by a postdoctoral appointment at Los Alamos National Laboratory, before joining the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Professor of Nuclear Materials and former Chair of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at UC Berkeley, where he directs the Manufacturing 360 Center and the Materials Characterization Facility. He holds joint appointments in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. His research has produced more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and includes leadership roles in major national research programs.

Ikhlaq Sidhu

Principal

Ikhlaq Sidhu is the Dean and a Professor of the School of Science & Technology at IE University in Madrid and globally. He has been the Founding Faculty Director and Chief Scientist of UC Berkeley’s Sutardja Center, Fung Institute, and Professional Engineering Leadership Program (2005 to 2022). He created the Data-X applied data science program, authored the book Innovation Engineering, and co-developed the Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship. He has been a prolific researcher with over 60 patents in Internet communications, data, AI, and networks. Dr. Sidhu received the IEEE Major Education Innovation Award in 2018, 3Com Corporation’s Inventor of the Year Award in 1999, and UC Berkeley’s Extraordinary Teaching Award in 2021.

MARK MUELLER

Principal

Mark currently serves as Associate Faculty Director of Aerospace Programs in the College of Engineering, UC Berkeley; and the Vice-Chair for Master of Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Mark joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at Berkeley in August 2016. Professor Mueller received a B.Eng. in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Pretoria in South Africa in 2008. He continued to his M.Sc. and Dr. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering at the ETH Zurich, in 2011 and 2015, respectively. Professor Mueller conducts research in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, dynamics and control; motion planning and coordination; state estimation and localization.

THOMAS SCHUTZIUS

Principal

Thomas is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, part of the Energy Science & Technology group, and a Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the Energy Technologies Area. Prof. Schutzius joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at Berkeley in January 2023. Prior to that he was an Assistant Professor at ETH Zurich (2020-2022) where he received a prestigious ERC Starting Grant and “Golden Owl” award for excellence in teaching. Professor Schutzius received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Professor Schutzius leads the Laboratory for Multiphase Thermofluidics and Surface Nanoengineering group.

KHALID M. MOSALAM

Principal

Mosalam joined the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley in 1997 where he is the Taisei Professor of Civil Engineering & Director of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center. His research focuses on the performance & health monitoring of structures, assessment & rehabilitation of essential facilities, and building energy efficiency & sustainability. His work spans large-scale computational modeling & experimental testing, including hybrid simulation. He is a Corresponding Member of the Mexican Academy of Engineering in Civil Engineering and a Fellow of ASCE. He was a visiting professor at Kyoto Univ. (Japan), Middle East Technical Univ. (Türkiye) & Nanyang Technological Univ. (Singapore).