About Me.
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Dr. Gaurav Nilakantan is a composite materials subject matter expert (SME) and a Boeing Designated Expert (BDE). He currently works at Boeing Research & Technology (BR&T) supporting Boeing Space & Launch programs within Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS), primarily Boeing Satellites out of its El Segundo, California site. He is a Senior Composites MP&P Engineer and serves as the Composites Technical Lead Engineer (TLE) for the El Segundo Materials & Processes (M&P) group. He was awarded a BR&T Performance & Innovation Award (PI Award) in 2019, the same year he joined Boeing. Dr. Nilakantan focuses on technological and organizational transformation within Boeing's business units to continuously accelerate and mainstream innovation, improvement, and productivity to enhance enterprise competitiveness. His various contributions and initiatives within BR&T and BDS have resulted in major technology and business impact to Boeing.
Dr. Nilakantan holds a doctoral (PhD) degree in Materials Science and Engineering, and Masters and Bachelors (MS, BE) degrees in Mechanical Engineering. He has completed certificate courses in Leadership at all Levels (MIT), Accounting and Finance for the Non-Finance Manager (UCSD), and Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement (USC). He has worked both in scientist and engineer type roles as part of his career spanning industry and academia. He joined Boeing in 2019, prior to that he worked as a Research Scientist at Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, CA. His extensive breadth and depth of composites research work and first-author technical publications including >20 first-author journal papers have spanned the manufacturing, experimental characterization, and finite element modeling of textiles, polymer matrix composites, and ceramic matrix composites for armor, aerospace, space, and hypersonics applications. He has previously made both seminal and major research contributions in the field of composites. He has previously served as the PI/PM on DoD-funded CRAD programs and industry-funded IRAD programs, and closely collaborated with several DoD government agencies. He is extensively networked with government, industry, and academia. He has previously served as a symposium organizer and session chair at various technical conferences, and served as a reviewer for various technical journals. He has won various awards over the course of his career including a best university doctoral dissertation award. Gaurav is a US citizen with active security clearance. He lives in Thousand Oaks, California and enjoys Southern California's beaches, hiking, basketball, and entertainment. |