Yusuf Shehata

1st Year PhD Student

BIO
Yusuf is a first-year PhD student in the SALT Research Group. He received his Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). During his undergrad, Yusuf interned at various engineering startups while pursuing rocketry projects with the Students for Exploration and Development of Space at UCSD. Following his undergraduate studies, he spent a year at Los Alamos National Laboratory on two separate projects, both of which revolved around structural engineering research. He now focuses on corrosion, thermodynamics, and engineering operations in molten salt environments for advanced reactors.

PROJECTS
Yusuf pursues projects concerning corrosion in molten salt environments, as well adjacent molten salt flow research and technologies. His current project collaborators include the likes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Sandia National Laboratories, with new project proposals underway.

Yusuf was also a delegate for the 2025 Nuclear Engineering Student Delegation. The delegation is comprised of students from around the US concerned with the nation’s present and future nuclear landscape; every year, the students congregate in Washington DC to discuss the issues facing nuclear energy, policy, education, and research with key policymakers.

AWARDS
Graduate: Chancellor’s Fellow

Undergraduate: UCSD Jacobs Scholar | UCSD Regents Scholar | Phi Beta Kappa | Lockheed Martin STEM Scholar

PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS
ORCID Profile: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1057-6472

Pres: “Contact Parameter Identification for Improved Model Accuracy Using a Reduced-Order Frequency Domain Formulation.” LANL Student Symposium, Los Alamos, NM, July 2025

Publ/Pres: Hancock, Matthew* & Lovell, Nathan* & Shehata, Yusuf* & Moore, Keegan & Epureanu, Bogdan & Thompson, Thomas & Kelly, Sean. (2025). Design of a Tuned Vibration Absorber with Friction Contact for High Location Ratio Application. 137-156. 10.13052/97887-438-0146-7_19.

CONTACT
Location:
4116 Etcheverry Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720

Email:
yusufshehata@berkeley.edu