MiTiHeart Corporation

Said Jahanmir is President and CEO of the MiTiHeart Corporation, a subsidiary of Mohawk Innovative Technology, Inc., (MiTi) where he serves as Vice President for Biotechnology and leads R&D efforts on implantable blood pumps, tribological coatings, and high-speed micro-machining. Prior to joining MiTi he was associated with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (1987-2002) where he served in several capacities including Leader of the Ceramic Manufacturing Group. He directed research activities that ranged from characterization of ceramic powders to assessment of mechanical properties of advanced materials. He also coordinated international collaborations on standards activities. He served as chair of the Ceramic Machining Consortium that he established as a joint research program between NIST, industry, and academic organizations (1992-2001). Previous affiliations include the National Science Foundation (1985-1987), Director of Tribology Program; Exxon Research and Engineering Company (1980-1985), senior research engineer; Cornell University (1977-1980), Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering; University of California at Berkeley (1976-1977), Lecturer; and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1975-1976), Instructor.

His research in tribology and machining of advanced materials is widely recognized in the scientific and engineering communities. He has published over two hundred forty papers and reports related to machining of ceramics, mechanisms and mechanics of interfaces, wear and friction, boundary lubrication, and biotribology; and has given more than three hundred lectures on these subjects. He has edited several books and conference proceedings on machining and tribology of advanced materials.
He has been active in technical and administrative committees and boards in several engineering societies and has served in several advisory groups in the federal government and universities. He was elected to chair the Gordon Research Conference on Tribology (1998). He is serving as founding Executive Editor for the Machining Science and Technology Journal. He served as President of Partnership for Educational Policy (2002-2003), a new organization formed to inform the public and policy makers on educational issues that have a wide reaching impact on K-12 education. He is an Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University Delaware and served as Honorary Research Professor at Hanyang University in South Korea (1998-2002).

He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and has served in various capacities including Chair of the Research Committee on Tribology (1988-1990), Associate Editor of the Journal of Tribology (1990-1993), and Chair of the Tribology Division’s Executive Committee (1997-1999). He served as ASME’s Vice President for Research (2001-2004) and Chair of the Board on Research and Technology Development (2001-2007). He also served as Technical Program Chair for the 2004 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, General Chair for 2005 and Congress Chair (2006-2007). He has served on several ASME Presidential Task Forces.

He was elected Fellow (1992) and Honorary Member (1997) of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) and served in various positions that included founding Chair of the Ceramics Committee (1988-1989) and Chair of the Fellows Nomination Committee (1997-1998). He is a member of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs (ASAIO) and served on the Industrial Liaison Committee (2003-2006), and a member of the International Society for Rotary Blood Pumps (ISRBP).

His awards include the ASME Mayo D. Hersey Award (2001), the Federal Laboratory Consortium Technology Transfer Award (2000), the STLE International Award (1997), and the ASME Dedicated Service Award (1995). He has been honored as the Community Hero by the Montgomery County Civic Federation (1999) for his contribution to local educational issues. He is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering and American Men and Women of Science.

He received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, magna cum laude, at the University of Washington (1971); and his master’s and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1973 and 1976, respectively). He holds three U.S. and Canadian Patents.