Naresh Thadhani is Professor and former Chair of the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his B.E. from the Malaviya National Institute of Technology in Jaipur, India; M.S. from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and Ph.D. from New Mexico Tech, all in metallurgical engineering. He is internationally recognized for his research focusing on the fundamental mechanisms of shock-induced physical, chemical, and mechanical changes under high-pressure shock-compression, and the deformation and fracture response of materials subjected to high-velocity impact and high-strain-rate loading. He has led significant advancements in the understanding of shock-induced phase transformations and mechanical properties of metallic glasses and alloys (including steels); design, development, and characterization of structural energetic materials; and the shock-compression response of highly heterogeneous (granular) materials. His work has combined experimental studies employing meso-scale spatial and nano-second resolution temporal diagnostics and meso-scale computational simulations. Naresh has served or is serving on review boards including the National Academy of Sciences panel at the Army Research Laboratory, and academic program review panels and external advisory Boards of Materials Science and Engineering programs at various universities. He is a recipient of the TMS Leadership award, and a Fellow of both the ASM International and the American Physical Society, and an elected Academician of the Euro-Mediterranean Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Department of State Profile

Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations
Office of Design and Engineering – Mechanical Engineering

Naresh Thadhani serves as a materials subject matter expert in the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), Office of Design and Engineering. OBO directs the overseas building program including the design, construction, acquisition, and maintenance of embassies, consulates, and other assets around the world. Materials matter in the design, construction, and maintenance of buildings to ensure OBO's mission of providing safe, secure, functional, and resilient facilities. Naresh is providing advice and guidance on materials selection and their performance addressing the challenges of extreme and often competing environmental, security, and diplomatic considerations under which many of the buildings need to survive and function for decades.