Biography
Prof. Maha Haji is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan where she leads the Symbiotic Engineering and Analysis (SEA) Lab. Prior to joining the University of Michigan she was an Assistant Professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University. Her research focuses on the design, optimization, and control of offshore systems that sustainably extract ocean resources—power, water, food, and critical minerals. Current projects include wave energy converters, offshore hydrogen production, seawater lithium harvesters, integrated desalination systems, and marine robotics, with support from NOAA, DOE, DARPA, and Sea Grant. She earned her Ph.D. in 2017 in Mechanical and Oceanographic Engineering from the MIT-WHOI Joint Program. She also worked as an engineering consultant at ATA Engineering, tackling analysis-driven design challenges across aerospace, robotics, and amusement systems. She holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley.