Mohammad Asadikiya

At age six, Mohammad Asadikiya was intrigued by a broken wooden clock in his home in Tehran, Iran. Curious, he dismantled it until it was a pile of wood and small metal pieces. After several minutes, Mohammad couldn’t identify the problem or put the clock back together. 

The lesson: to find a solution, you must first fully understand the problem how component parts work together as a working system. Mohammad was thinking like an engineer.

In college in Iran, he focused on mechanical engineering where he realized that an engineering design is highly dependent on materials that are prone to corrosion. Soon after, he developed a patent for a compound that can prevent corrosion in alloys such as the steel, aluminum and copper found on boats and cooling systems in cars. He also developed an environmentally friendly compound that saves time and money when removing tough silicate scales and sediment from machinery. Both products are currently being produced and sold.

At FIU, Mohammad used the materials genome concept to develop materials much faster than traditional methods. He focused on predicting properties of materials, accelerating their design and anticipating what would happen to them after several years under certain conditions.

Mohammad’s research has been published in several high-ranking peer-reviewed journals and he has presented his findings at international conferences. Among his other accomplishments, he is the co-chair of career development in the NACE Southern Florida Section, where he mentors students interested in the materials science industry.

After graduation, Mohammad will pursue postdoctoral research at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

By Jennifer Lacayo
Junior Account Manager, Office of Media Relations