Waleed completed his Ph.D. student at the College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University and a senior researcher at the Center for Complex Engineering Systems (CCES). He earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering followed by a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, in Daytona Beach, FL. He was a research assistant in the Changing Places group at the MIT Media Lab. The main focus of his graduate courses revolved around control systems and clean energy systems. In graduate school, he applied his undergraduate academic achievements to various projects including the EcoCar NEXT challenge where he was a team member on the development of the control system for hybrid electric vehicle architecture. His graduate thesis dissertation revolved around developing a full-scale structural fatigue test for wind turbine blades, which was funded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). This involved building and validating mathematical representations of a proposed test method before performing a proof of concept at the NREL facility in Boulder. This technology was developed in order to minimize both the energy demands and test durations of performing fatigue tests on large wind turbine blades, which results in shorter design and testing cycles that lead to lower costs of wind turbine blade development. Prior to joining CCES, he worked for Rockwell Collins as a flight control systems engineer. At Rockwell Collins, his main duties were developing system requirements and models for an Autoland system for the Bombardier C-Series while validating and testing the models against the system requirements. Since joining CCES, Waleed has applied his skill sets to the modeling logic behind the Integrated Energy Decision Support System (IEDSS) project. IEDSS is a decision support tool designed to facilitate decision makers in exploring the possible energy mixes, through rapid prototyping of possible “what if” scenarios, of both conventional and renewable technologies in order to meet the future growing energy demands of the kingdom. In his down time, Waleed spends a lot of time –and money- on Triathlon training and watching the cycling grand tours and classics. He is an avid reader who loves music, home improvements and cooking/eating great food.