Dr. Dimitry Sediako (Principal investigator)

Dr. Dimitry Sediako is a Professor and a Head of the Mechanical Engineering program of the University of British Columbia in Kelowna, Canada, – the position he holds since 2017 after working for 12 years as a Senior Scientist with the National Research Council, Atomic Energy of Canada, and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories.

After receiving his PhD in Metallurgical Engineering in 1987, his career extended over 30 years of industrial R&D in steel, aluminum, and magnesium metallurgy. Dr. Sediako worked as a principal research engineer for a number of foundries and metallurgical companies in Russia, China, Taiwan, and Canada, leading many major projects on technological innovations in the industry. For several major breakthroughs in his research, he received several state awards internationally, including Belarus, Order of White Magnolia, and Order of Friendship from China and Taiwan.

Over his long career in industry and research, he made a number of major contributions to steel continuous casting technologies, direct-chill casting of magnesium and aluminum alloys, precision sand and high pressure die casting of aluminum. Along with extensive pilot-plant research, modeling, and state-of-the-art fitness-for-service testing, Dr. Sediako is extensively utilizing the unique properties of neutrons, allowing direct stress measurements and in-situ studies of phase evolution in metal parts and components. These studies enable new alloys development for the most challenging applications and technology optimization in metallurgical manufacturing. He collaborates extensively with many automotive manufacturers, both OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, enabling new alloys development, stress analysis, and technology optimization for the most challenging applications.

A specific focus of his research is stress characterization in automotive, aerospace, and marine powertrain components, as well as in-situ studies of solidification, phase evolution, and high temperature creep in new aluminum and magnesium alloys’ development for the transportation industries. Dr. Sediako is an author of more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and proprietary reports, a licensed Professional Engineer. In 2014 was inducted to the Fellowship of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. Dr. Sediako is the Director of UBC High Performance Powertrain Materials (HPPM) centre and principal investigator on many major research projects funded by industry and governments, both Canadian and international. His main legacy is a proven success record of more than 30 of his current and former graduate students.

Hobbies: automotive powertrains, boating, skiing, hiking