Elham Sahraei, joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering as the first Beck Faculty Fellow. Prior to coming to Mason, she was a research scientist at the Impact and Crashworthiness Lab of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the co-director of the MIT Battery Consortium, a multi-sponsor industrial program supported by major automotive and battery manufacturers. Sahraei has also been a co-investigator of multiple Ford-MIT Alliance projects, and a DOE project with National Renewable Energy Lab on safety of Li-Ion batteries.
“Junior faculty have a lot of things on their radar, especially building their research,” said Mechanical Engineering Department Chair, Oscar Barton. “The Beck Fellowship will help Elham reach additional collaborators in her research area; reach out to graduate students; attract graduate talent; and build her promise by being a contributor to the school’s research program.”
Buddy Beck, president of the Beck Foundation, was instrumental in making the fellowship possible. He said, “Through the award of its faculty fellowship, the foundation is pleased to support the school’s vision—producing scholars that impact the well-being of society.”
In addition to characterization and modeling of Li-Ion batteries, her expertise includes full-scale vehicle crash analysis, occupant protection, and analysis of roadside safety structures. She is the inventor of “Collision Safety Structure,” a structure for controlled buckling of driver seats that reduces perils of frontal crashes.
“The fellowship was an important factor in my decision to choose Mason,” said Sahraei. “It will give me the flexibility to work on the research ideas that I have, for safe electric transportation.”