SIMULIA Champions 2025

Ameya Apte is a seasoned simulation engineer with over a decade of experience in multi-body dynamics. He currently works as a Vehicle Dynamics, Loads, and Control Integration Analysis Engineer at General Motors, where he is part of a core team leading 70+ engineers in the transition to Simpack. Before this, Ameya worked at Dassault Systèmes for five years as a Solution Consultant for Simpack. During his time there, he introduced a version control tool that helped the team to better scale model development. He also became an expert in gear train analysis. Prior to his role at Dassault Systèmes, Ameya worked as a CAE engineer at Ford Motor Company, where he developed expertise in modeling engine dynamics and developing innovative analysis methodologies.
 

Ameya is passionate about virtual analysis and is enthusiastic about growing the industry from both a software and application perspective. He is also a strong advocate for knowledge sharing and actively manages a community channel to increase engagement within the multi-body dynamics simulation community.

Anjay Prasad is an Electromagnetics and RF Cluster Lead with over a decade of expertise in the automotive industry. Specializing in Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) for body electronics, powertrains and high-voltage (HV) batteries, he combines technical acumen with a strategic approach to design and development. At Mercedes-Benz R&D India, he led EMI/EMC and RF simulation teams, driving compliance with industry standards and delivering innovative solutions that optimize product performance.
Anjay's achievements include receiving the Process Innovation Award for cost-saving functional testing methodologies and publishing groundbreaking research on EMC digital frontloading using CST Studio Suite. He manages EMC programs, develops compliant PCB designs, and implements shielding solutions for HV systems.
With a Master’s degree in Mechatronics and fluency in multiple tools like CST Studio Suite and Matlab, he has been bridging cross-functional collaboration with stakeholder engagement, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, resilient and modernized engineering solutions.

Bala Shanmugam received his master’s degree in 2011, specializing in electromagnetic systems. In the last 13+ years, he has designed custom antennas for various electronic device form-factors such as smart-phone, tablet, smart-watch, trackers, hearables, smart-home accessories, streaming media devices, LTE nano/femto-cell, water-meter, OBD-II auto-accessory. He has five approved patents and five technical papers and has used CST Studio Suite for over ten years for advanced antenna/RF simulations with applications ranging from a few MHz to mm-Wave frequencies. At Google, he leads the antenna design for head-worn devices with a focus on optimizing wireless performance for body-worn use-cases, bridging the gap between antenna simulations and measurements, optimal human phantom modeling, highly integrated antenna assemblies, novel material, and communication technology research. 

Brian Nixdorf is a licensed Professional Engineer with a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Akron. He has been an integral part of the Design Engineering department at BWX Technologies, Inc., in Barberton, Ohio, for over 12 years, specializing in structural design. Brian has been a SIMULIA user ever since his first exposure to FEA at the undergraduate level with the university’s Student Steel Bridge Competition team. His experience in structural analysis, primarily using Abaqus, has ranged from designing and optimizing frames with custom connections to in-depth thermal/mechanical stress analysis of pressure vessel components for fatigue and fracture. Recently, his focus has been designing and analyzing custom shipping and lifting/handling equipment and supporting its fabrication, testing, assembly, and use. He has also worked extensively on retrofitting structural improvements into the designs of existing equipment to bring it up to modern standards so it can be used for years to come.

Chad Bartlett received his B.Eng and MASc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Victoria in 2017 and 2019, respectively, and Dr.-Ing in Electrical Engineering from Kiel University in 2023. From 2019 to 2023, Dr. Bartlett was a member of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program for early-stage researchers, where his work focused on advanced filter solutions for high-performance millimeter and submillimetre-wave systems. His primary research interests include microwave and millimeter-wave passive components, filters, multiplexers and antenna networks for the next generation of satellite and communication systems, as well as developing methods for overcoming challenges in micro-scale designs.

Damien used to work on several projects and products to deliver for flight (TRL4 to 9): magnetic suspended wheels, solar arrays, and mechanisms. Now he works on R&D projects for mechanisms (TRL1 to 4, and sometimes until TRL9), mainly on magnetic components such as sensors, motors, and actuators. In the past, he used FLUX3D, but for less than 10 years, he has been using CST Studio Suite. Damien prefers studying magnetic systems, active or passive, static or moving.

Dr. Di Su currently serves as an associate professor in the field of civil engineering at the University of Tokyo in Japan. His utilization of Abaqus commenced during his doctoral studies in 2005, and upon joining the University of Tokyo as a faculty member, he expanded his research activities to encompass a broader array of SIMULIA products, including Abaqus, Simpack, fe-safe, and Tosca. His research is centered on structural engineering, with particular interests in structural simulation, transportation infrastructure dynamics, reliability-based design and risk analysis, and optimization design. Dr. Su is also integrating advanced numerical simulations with structural monitoring data to develop digital twin technologies, with the aim of improving the maintenance and resilience of infrastructure in the future.

Dowon Kim joined LG Electronics in 2015 after graduating from Hanyang University in 2015 with a master's degree in design optimization. He moved to Hyundai Transys in 2020 and has been working there for about 5 years. Currently, he's performing strength analysis of automotive transmission as well as structural analysis of electrification components such as motors and inverters. Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit are mainly used for CAE analysis.

Emil Szkop graduated from Warsaw University of Technology with a Master of Science in Physics. He joined Kubara Lamina S.A. as a microwave designer in the Research and Development Center over 10 years ago. Since then, Emil has been working with various simulation software, focusing on electromagnetic and particle-in-cell simulations using CST Studio Suite. He has experience designing and simulating microwave tubes, such as magnetrons, klystrons, travelling wave tubes, electron guns, waveguide components and antennas. The results of his work have been presented at various conferences, and many of his designs have been implemented as working devices.

Fabio Morgia is a highly experienced antenna designer with in-depth knowledge of modern antenna systems. He specializes in metasurface antennas, GRIN (Gradient Index) lens antennas and waveguide antennas. Due to his degree in microelectronics, Fabio has a deep knowledge of the interaction between electromagnetic waves and materials, enabling him to develop highly efficient and innovative antenna solutions.
Outside his technical career, Fabio is an avid swimmer and runner. The qualities that Fabio has acquired through his passion for sport, such as commitment, discipline and perseverance, benefit him not only in his hobby but also in his professional life and help him achieve the best possible results.
Fabio is very committed to staying at the cutting edge of antenna design. To this end, he continuously refines his skills and expertise to deliver innovative solutions to the challenges of modern communication.

Florian Mayot graduated from the CVUT & ENSTA-Bretagne in 2012 with a master's degree in Automotive Engineering and from the University of Stuttgart in 2024 with a master's degree in Acoustics. 
Various work experiences in simulation and technical project management, combined with his passion for solving technical challenges, led Florian to his current position at Mahle as a Team Lead for Acoustic Cooling Modules. In this position, he and his team answer customer inquiries and develop innovations for acoustic cooling modules (axial fans with small packaging). 
Over the last five years, simulations done with PowerFLOW based on LBM (Lattice Boltzmann) code helped him understand airflow behaviors and their consequences for noise in rotating geometries. 
These simulations' results and detailed interpretations enabled Florian to overcome the new complex challenges associated with electric vehicles and offer end customers the best possible experience.

Francesco Marano received his M.Sc. degree in electronic engineering from the University Federico II of Naples. From May to December 2017, he collaborated with IDS (Ingegneria dei Sistemi) toward his master’s thesis about antenna aperture with only phase control.
From January to May 2018, he worked on antenna design topics as a Post Graduate Researcher at the University Federico II. Currently at Leonardo Aircraft division at the Turin site, since 2018, his main interests include antenna siting for proper products.

Greg Thorwald is a principal engineer at Quest Integrity in Boulder, Colorado, which is now part of Baker Hughes. He uses Abaqus finite element analysis for structural, fracture, and fatigue crack growth assessments in a variety of fitness-for-service consulting projects. He is the lead developer of the commercial FEACrack software, an automated parametric 3D crack mesh generation program creating Abaqus input files to compute crack front stress intensity and J-integral values needed for Level 3 assessments. He also contributes to the Signal Fitness-for-Service software used for Level 2 Fitness-for-Service assessments. Greg is a member of the API/ASME Fitness-for-Service joint committee that provides the API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 engineering standard. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado.

Guru Prakash has been a long-time Abaqus user with a career that has spanned across automotive, microelectronics and aerospace industries. His association with Abaqus started during his Ph. D. in graduate school and has continued throughout his stint in the industry. He has leveraged the capabilities within Abaqus to drive the design of a wide variety of products ranging from automotive airbag systems, aircraft seating systems, electronic devices, aircraft windshields and canopies. Lately, he has been engaged in addressing the challenges of bird strikes on aircraft windshields relying on Abaqus/Explicit while working at PPG Aerospace. He is also expanding his repertoire by using Abaqus in his attempts to solve the complex problem of modeling of laminated structural joints both in terms of response under dynamic loads as well as fatigue loads in aircraft windshields.

Haiyan Li is the Global Technical Specialist in the Casting Component Durability and Fatigue group at General Motors. She leads a global team in developing standard analysis works and capability growth, with main focus on casting structure durability and battery manufacturing. Prior to joining GM, she held the position of Senior Technical Specialist at Dassault Systèmes Systemes SIMULIA Corp. Haiyan has over 20 years of FEA experience dealing with a wide range of engineering problems. She holds a PhD in High Temperature Structural Mechanics from Beihang (BUAA) University, China.

Heewook Moon has been using SIMULIA products at Hyundai Motor Company since 2005. Currently, he is in charge of simulating the motor, reducer and power conversion system for power trains and electric vehicles. Through the connection and integration of various SIMULIA products, his group expects to derive more complete analysis results.

Helen Zhu has been working as a CAE engineer at Ford since 1998 and has been using SIMULIA products throughout her career. Her main areas of expertise include chassis structural strength, durability, test correlation and optimization, with more than 15 years of experience in suspension system-level analysis using Abaqus. Helen speaks English and Mandarin. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, particularly growing flowers and vegetables.h and Mandarin. In my free time, I enjoy gardening, particularly growing flowers and vegetables. 

Huijuan Guo is a senior engineer of CNPC Engineering Technology R&D Company Limited and the director of the Petroleum Engineering Numerical Simulation Laboratory. She graduated from Tsinghua University with a Ph. D. degree and majored in mechanics. Hujian Guo has been engaged in numerical simulation related to drilling and completion engineering for nearly 20 years. Using numerical simulation technology, she solved numerous failure problems in the drilling field and also improved the best scheme for drilling equipment and tools design. For Huijuan Guo, numerical simulation is the best scientific research tool for engineers. She loves simulation and it has become a part of her life.

Jari van Wonterghem began his career in antenna design back in 1999. For the next 20 years, he worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, including Nokia, Blackberry, Microsoft, and Huawei. Looking back, Jari remembers the early days when antenna design was done without simulation tools. He saw firsthand how the introduction of electromagnetic 3D simulation tools changed the game, making antenna design work more efficient and precise. In 2019, he joined Radientum as a Principal Antenna Engineer. At Radientum, Jari's work is a mix of antenna design, technical sales and project management. EM Simulations with CST Studio Suite plays major role in his current line of work.

Jiling Bu majored in Vehicle Engineering at Southwest Jiaotong University, and then conducted postdoctoral research at the China Academy of Railway Research, majoring in Transportation. He then worked in the State Key Laboratory of Traction Power and the School of Mechanical Engineering of Southwest Jiaotong University.
He is currently the director of the Expert Office of Bu Jiling of CRRC Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology Co., LTD., and the head of the CRRC Simulation Expert Group. He is the deputy director of the Rubber Committee of the China Chemical Industry Association, deputy director of the Composite Material Product Digitization Specialized Committee of the China Composites Industry Association, member of the Expert Committee of the Simulation Technology Industry Branch of the China Industrial Cooperation Association, and member of the editorial board of 7 journals.
He is mainly engaged in the fields of rail transit, automobile, wind power system dynamics simulation, fatigue life prediction of polymer material products structure optimization, and molding process. He has undertaken more than 10 national and provincial scientific research projects, won 10 provincial and ministerial awards and CRRC level awards, authorized 6 international patents and more than 60 invention patents. He has published 5 books and over 100 scientific and technical papers.

Dr. Lin Wang, whose professional career began in 2008, is passionate about Computational Modelling and Simulation in research & development across various fields. In 2016, he joined DePuy Synthes (J&J MedTech), prior to which he has worked at Cummins Turbo Technologies, Durham University and Spincraft ETG. He also serves as board members of the IMechE Structural Technology & Materials Group and NAFEMS Computational Structural Mechanics Working Group. He is a certified 6 sigma black belt and a chartered engineer, member of IMechE. He holds a PhD of Mechanical Engineering from Durham University. Lin has 16 years’ experience with SIMULIA products (Abaqus, FE-Safe, Tosca) in solving challenge problems faced by academia and industry. In particular, he is an expert of using Abaqus to simulate highly nonlinear conditions and ultra-large material deformations. So far, he has published 19 peer-reviewed journal and conference articles as the first author with approx. 400 citations. 

Maciej Majerczak is an FEA Simulation Expert at Valeo, where he has been working since 2017. His responsibilities include design verification, proposing improvements, and optimizing processes using finite element analysis. He primarily focuses on dynamic testing and simulations for automotive components. Additionally, Maciej writes standards and methodologies for FEA engineers based on internal research and leads the automation/scripting team.

He holds a Master's degree in Mechatronics (M.Sc.Eng.) from AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow, Poland. In his free time, Maciej enjoys programming.

Since November 1999, Marc has been working at the ALSTOM Transport Deutschland GmbH in Salzgitter, Germany. As a Railway Dynamics Expert, Marc is involved in the development of all types of rolling stock, ranging from trams, regional and inter-city trains up to very high-speed trains. In addition to conducting multi-body system calculations, Marc participates in the on-track testing of railway vehicles, which is primarily required for train authorization.
Marc is a member of the ALSTOM Core Competence Network (CCN) for Railway Dynamics. Within the ALSTOM World Class Engineering (WCE) Program, he has been appointed as an ALSTOM WCE Senior Expert.
Marc has over 25 years of experience in the application of SIMULIA Simpack .

Marcos Cervantes is an Industrial Engineer, specialized in Structures Analysis who studied at the University of Zaragoza. He has a Masters in the finite element method and project management. He is currently working as an R&D manager performing CAE and analytical simulations, with a focus on the development of the project from the very beginning stage. 
He has been using Abaqus for over 10 years, acquiring expertise in the fields of dynamics and thermal management. He is passionate about CAE analysis and motivated to keep learning and improving in this field.  

Marek Roh, based in the Czech Republic, holds a Master’s degree in Engineering Mechanics and Biomechanics from Brno University of Technology. His education laid the groundwork for a career that took off when, at just 27 years, he joined Weldex Autotechnik with the ambitious task of building the company’s simulation department from the ground up.

To address Weldex's diverse simulation needs, Marek and his team implemented Dassault's 3DEXPERIENCE platform, a comprehensive solution covering structural, thermal, durability, and moldflow analysis—all under one roof. Mastering these tools, he has been able to provide fast and accurate feedback to two international R&D offices, streamlining workflows and improving collaboration across borders. Throughout his career at Weldex, he has consistently worked to enhance workflows for each of these disciplines, aiming to reduce the time necessary for simulation tasks and increase efficiency. 

After several stops at universities in Germany and abroad, Mohamed El Hadidy is a highly motivated engineer who loves to get to the bottom of things and does not lose sight of the practical side and applications. Transferring knowledge and developing his staff and students through his courses and research activities are the most lovely things in his heart. Mohamed loves teaching, and research is his best hobby. He has excellent social intelligence and advanced communication skills. Mohamed has more than 60 international publications and supervised several PhD and M.Sc. successive students. He has chaired and co-organized several IEEE conferences and was invited as a keynote speaker. Mohamed reviews several IEEE transactions and conferences in Antennas and Propagation, Vehicles Technology and Communication societies.

Mohamed Hussein is a Lead Mechanical Engineer at ELSEWEDY ELECTRIC PSP. He holds a Master's degree in Mechanical Design and passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Mechanical Exam from NCEES. Hussein has over 10 years of experience in mechanical design and analysis, specializing in managing Static and Mechanical equipment. He is highly skilled in CAD and CAE and is a Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert (CSWE), SOLIDWORKS Champion, and User Group Leader.
Hussein is highly skilled in FEA and has delivered many successful projects at a global scale during his professional career. His expertise includes the design and review of ASME SEC VIII, EN 13445 pressure vessels codes, as well as API 650, API 620, EN 14015, and AWWA D100 above-ground storage tanks.
Hussein has delivered over 130 training courses on FEA, Mechanical Design, and SOLIDWORKS. He has also presented six sessions at 3DEXPERIENCE World.

Neal Berner has over 25 years of simulation experience in the automotive industry and has been in the Toyota Motor North America R&D powertrain simulation group since 2006. Prior to joining Toyota, Neal worked at Ford Motor Company after receiving his Masters degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan. He has spent most of his career developing multi-body dynamics simulation tools and methodologies for internal combustion engine durability and noise and vibration. Since 2021, Neal has been working with a global Toyota team, developing vehicle dynamics simulation tools for durability, ride comfort, and offroad performance. Neal has 15+ years of experience using SIMULIA Simpack and Abaqus.

During his studies, Norbert Schroeder first came into contact with simulation products in 2009 — first with Abaqus 6.xx and shortly after with Simpack 8 (which became in 2014 part of SIMULIA's product portfolio). He finds it remarkable how much SIMULIA's product portfolio has developed and how the simulation software has evolved since his first contact with the software during his studies. 
Since 2013, Norbert has been developing drive solutions for BMW AG in the areas of combustion engines, electric machines and battery cell technology. 
Nowadays, he regularly works with software solutions such as Abaqus, Simpack and Tosca. He sees the mastery of these tools as a significant advantage in working holistically on questions of durability, acoustics, system and process simulation. Norbert is particularly fascinated by these tools because they not only help him better understand nature but also enable him to develop targeted creative solutions.
Norbert is committed to democratizing simulation technologies to sustainably shorten the product development cycle. For this, he is happy to share his knowledge, experience and work processes with the BMW design team. The SIMULIA products help him and his team understand better interrelationships and mechanisms, react quickly, and, if necessary, optimize designs or entire manufacturing processes.

After 20 years working at a research institute, Ricardo changed to the industry. Currently, he’s working at Jorcar Titanium, a small enterprise specialist in titanium applications, mainly for the anodization process. He leads the research team, focusing on titanium recycling, powder production and additive manufacturing. Finite element simulation is being used for many applications in multi-physics fields. It is a powerful tool boot for research and product design. Ricardo has been working with Abaqus since he finished his studies in mechanical engineering. SIMULIA is his favorite brand of all Dassault Systèmes products.

First introduced to electromagnetic FEA during a master's project focused on enhancing ionizer design, Ryan eagerly joined YASA as a graduate in their simulation team. During his time at YASA, Ryan has been strongly engaged in the magnetic design optimization of axial motors and toolchain development. Ryan has enjoyed using Opera for six years, as well as various in-house Python and MATLAB codes, and has more recently been exploring how process integration and design optimization tools can be applied to YASA's workflows. Passionate about continuous learning, Ryan is enthusiastic about exploring more tools on the SIMULIA platform to further his expertise and improve YASA's innovative designs.

Santhana Kumar P is an accomplished team leader with over 12.5 years of experience in R&D and a total of 15 years in the automotive domain. He handles a team size of 9 members. Santhana is excellent in team building, collaborative working with cross-functional teams, people management, handling interview processes, and mentoring new team members after the interview process.
He's proficient in vibration, durability & fatigue analysis of various automotive subsystems with fuse box, power distribution unit, wireless charger, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle charge inlet/plug connectors, DEC parts, Safety Restraint Systems, Engine Fuel System, Engine Ignition System, Gear connectors, Electrical center for Automotive OEM's EV using Abaqus.

Sang Soo Lee is a Principal Research Engineer at the Microwave Technologies Group with 16 years of experience with SIMULIA products. He works on the development of satellite-mounted and defense antennas, having previously been focused on the design and development of phased array antennas and antennas for mobile communications.
His specialisms include the development of antennas for radio surveillance and broadcasting, and the production of short-range surveillance radar technology.

Sanghyuk Choi is a Process Engineer in LG Electronics' home appliance business department. After a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering (Structural Strength & Optimization), he has been a CAE engineer for 13 years, with a focus on the packaging of home appliances, rubber parts and topology optimization.
Sang Hyuk Choi has been managing the simulation process and data management (SPDM) system on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform for 3 years. He's interested in how CAE data can be converted into a database and reused.

Currently, Head of Simulation Department at Safran Aerosystems Cognac and recognized as Safran Senior Expert in mechanics, Thomas is in charge of developing fast and accurate methodologies to predict the behavior of inflatable equipment under various conditions, including mainly interaction with fluids (water and air). For 20 years, Thomas has practiced static, crash and dynamic finite element simulation in the automotive and aerospace industry. User of Abaqus for 17 years, Thomas has developed many Python scripts to enhance efficiency and various subroutines to extend Abaqus possibilities. Thomas seeks excellence and high-fidelity modeling in his work and wants to prove that numerical simulation can now be called virtual testing on which one can rely.

Venkat Santhanam is a member of the Modeling & Simulation team for the Performance Solutions Division at WL Gore. He has been performing FEA simulations leveraging his skillset in solid mechanics, FEA and materials characterization for 5 years at Gore. During this time, he has enabled future growth of the division by supporting in root cause investigation efforts, accelerating product development and fundamental understanding of materials in application as an FEA expert. Outside of work, Venkat enjoys running and will participate in the Chicago and NYC Marathons in 2024!

Yuta Ito is Assistant Manager at Toyota Motor Corporation. He graduated from the University of Oita. He joined Toyota Motor Corporation in 2012. He was engaged in evaluating and developing aerodynamics and wind noise of vehicle.
In 2016, he received the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers Prize for “Development of Aerodynamic Noise Performance of an Outer Mirror Based on a New Flow Concept.”
In 2023, he gave a presentation at SCCJ (SIMULIA Community Conference Japan) on the “Establishment of Wind Noise Prediction Method Caused by Flow of Vehicle Shape Using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). Since 2023, he has been involved in the technology development of Generative AI.

Yuya Kozuka is the Chief Researcher at the ASICS Institute of Sports Science. Since 2012, he has developed a design system for sports equipment using nonlinear structural analysis and structural optimization with Abaqus. He has contributed to improving athlete performance by applying this design system to design high-functioning shoes that integrate algorithmic design with Isight while considering human body shape and motion. Currently, he is researching topology optimization that takes into account not only functionality but also aesthetic preferences to enhance product value. Additionally, he is constructing a machine learning model that integrates Abaqus and CATIA for designing personalized products. To realize a virtual twin using virtual humans, Abaqus is essential software that can robustly perform complex nonlinear structural analysis.

Zhiliang Xu focuses on the research and development of wind turbines and has 13 years of experience using SIMULIA, including the aero-elastic-servo-hydro multi-body simulation modeling, verification & validation, intelligent diagnosis and control of vibration. He is committed to understanding the dynamic mechanism of wind turbines and making them work better, contributing to the world's clean energy.