The Center for Applied Drone Research is led by a multidisciplinary group of faculty, researchers, and applied leaders with deep expertise across engineering, computation, materials, infrastructure, and systems deployment. The leadership team brings decades of experience advancing research from fundamental theory through experimental validation and real-world application. Together, CADR leadership guides the Center’s research agenda, infrastructure development, and external partnerships, ensuring that technical rigor, applied relevance, and operational readiness remain central to the Center’s mission.
Faculty Director, Center for Applied Drone Research
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. He has published over 200 journal papers and eight books. He is Editor-in-Chief of Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering (CMAME) and serves on journal boards. He has given over 240 keynote and contributed lectures at conferences and research institutions.
Peter Hosemann, Professor of Nuclear Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Materials Science and Engineering
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. His research focuses on materials science and manufacturing for extreme environments.
Thomas Schutzius, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
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, which conducts fundamental research into micro/nanoscale and interfacial transport phenomena enabling rationally engineered materials and processes for water and energy applications. His teaching is also in these areas, including Thermodynamics, Energy Conversion, and Energy Management Systems (data centers).
Mark Asta, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
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. Professor Asta conducts research using computational modeling and artificial-intelligence/machine learning methods to accelerate materials discovery and design for advanced technologies, often including use in harsh environments.
Mike Sangid, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Professor Sangid is a faculty member in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University and leads the Mechanics of Aerospace Materials Laboratory. He joined Purdue after prior academic and research appointments and has established a program focused on the durability and reliability of materials for aerospace applications. Professor Sangid has served in leadership and advisory roles within the aerospace materials community and collaborates closely with industry and government partners. His research integrates advanced experimental methods and modeling to study fatigue, fracture, and microstructural evolution of materials in extreme environments, supporting the development of next-generation air and space systems.
Khalid M. Mosalam, Professor of Structural Engineering
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. Mosalam’s contributions have been recognized with several awards, including ASCE Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize (2006), UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Award for Public Service (2013), EERI Outstanding Paper Award in Earthquake Spectra (2015), ASCE Best Journal Paper in Materials & Structural Response (2020), and Hojjat Adeli Award for Innovation in Computing (2021). 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).
Simo Mäkiharju, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
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. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2012–2014) and Assistant Research Scientist (2014–2015) at the University of Michigan, he investigated single- and multiphase flows and X-ray–based measurement techniques while translating research into industrial applications. At Berkeley, he leads experimental research on high–Reynolds-number single- and multiphase flows using hyperspectral imaging combined with advanced data analytics.
Mark Mueller, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
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. Before joining Berkeley, he spent time in industry. Professor Mueller conducts research in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, dynamics and control; motion planning and coordination; state estimation and localization. His research ranges from fundamental to applied-in-industry.
Director of Strategy and Development, ITS
Justin Wiley is Strategy & Development Director at UC Berkeley’s Institute of Transportation Studies, and the Corporate Partnerships Strategist at the Richmond Field Station. He began his career in mobility as a student at UC Berkeley, where he co-founded Green Bike Share. In 2012, he joined the founding team at JUMP Bikes, helping to build and scale micromobility systems globally before the company’s $200M acquisition by Uber. He continued his work at Uber, expanding access to electric bikes and scooters in major cities worldwide. Justin later joined Swiftly, a public transit technology firm, where he led strategic partnerships to help agencies modernize operations through real-time data and analytics. Now back at UC Berkeley, he focuses on advancing mobility infrastructure, research commercialization, and workforce development by connecting academia, government, and industry across the Richmond Field Station and beyond.