Ali Emamjomeh, a native of Iran, never imagined he would one day hold over 60 U.S. granted patents or build an engineering career spanning more than four decades across three continents.
As a presenter in the Lyles College of Engineering’s new Leader in Residence program, Emamjomeh will speak about his Fresno State journey and global success in the engineering field from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, at the Industrial Technology Building, Room 160, at Fresno State. This is the first of three days of discussions he will host on campus from Feb. 24 through Feb. 26, with other presentations focusing on engineering, product development and agricultural technology.
Emamjomeh immigrated to the United States as a teenager and completed high school in San Jose. His higher education journey started at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz where he initially majored in geology.
However, his father, a human resources professional, encouraged Emamjomeh to seriously consider engineering because of the field’s potential to provide broader opportunities. Surrounded by a region rapidly emerging as a global technology hub and his father’s advice, Emamjomeh decided to change course and pursue a path in engineering instead.
As he was completing his studies at Cabrillo College and making plans to transfer to a four-year university, Emamjomeh faced challenges resulting from political turmoil.
“In the late ’70s, the Iranian Revolution happened in Iran,” Emamjomeh said. “All of a sudden, because of this political conflict, students like myself faced challenges related to discrimination, finances and social isolation. And then right around the time when my junior college years were ending, many state universities closed admissions of foreign students to their undergraduate engineering programs.”
Emamjomeh had to quickly switch gears. After hearing about Fresno State from a friend, he decided to take the leap and traveled a few hours south to visit the Fresno State campus. Soon after, he was admitted into the mechanical engineering program, which he credits with giving him the jump-start to his distinguished career.
While at Fresno State, Emamjomeh connected with various faculty members, who later became mentors to him.
“I had some excellent professors that took an interest in me and were very encouraging,” Emamjomeh said. “As a young immigrant and someone who was dealing with the consequences of war in my country of origin, that support was very important.”
After graduating in 1983 with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering, Emamjomeh moved back to the Bay Area, where he started his career in the semiconductor industry as a packaging engineer. He later went on to earn two master’s degrees: one in engineering mechanics from Santa Clara University and another in materials science and engineering from Arizona State University. He also holds a license as a registered professional mechanical engineer in California.
Prior to joining HP, Inc. in 1994, Emamjomeh worked for international companies such as National Semiconductor (later Texas Instruments) and Tandem Computers.
During his 30-year career at HP, Emamjomeh led many achievements, including being part of a small group of expert engineers at the forefront of the company’s new 3D printing division in 2014. With his team, Emamjomeh took a strategic approach to analyzing the industry’s patent landscape and two years later, he helped the company ship its first 3D printing product. His patents, ranging from inkjet to 3D printing, set him apart as one of the company’s leading innovators.
Recognized for his expertise in material science, Emamjomeh was later promoted to master technologist, where he helped expand HP’s knowledge on powder science for 3D printing and helped refine several of the company’s 3D printing processes.
Emamjomeh credits HP for providing opportunities for career growth internally, as well as internationally including a six-year assignment in Singapore.
In 2019, Emamjomeh began another international assignment in Barcelona, Spain, where he led a team of engineers and scientists focused on scaling HP’s 3D printing business and accelerating materials development for the market. After completing this assignment, he returned home to San Diego and retired from the company in 2023.
Throughout his career, Emamjomeh has filed 120 U.S. patent applications, 64 of which have been granted and 62 of which are pending.
“While I don’t have favorite patents, there are a couple that stand out: one extended the life of the inkjet cartridge printhead significantly — by orders of magnitude,” Emamjomeh said. “The other is a 3D printing one that optimized the material, which improved part properties. Most of them are very interesting, but these are ones that really stood out to me.”
Today, Emamjomeh works as a senior staff engineer at Lytx, where he develops reliability approaches to improve or extend the life of industrial dashcams, including accelerated testing and failure analysis for lithium-ion batteries. He also leverages his experience in high-volume product scaling to partner with manufacturers in Southeast Asia. In addition, he serves as a research associate for the Materials Science and Engineering program at UC Merced.
As Emamjomeh prepares to return to Fresno State for his residency, he reflects on a moment from his student years that shifted his perspective — a lecture by a returning alumnus whose message left a lasting impression.
“He worked for HP in Palo Alto,” Emamjomeh said of the alumnus. “I remember him saying, ‘You’re getting a good education. You are learning all the right things as an engineer. You are ready and will make it.’ That was really important to me — to have somebody tell me that I should believe in myself and that I was going to be successful. My hope is that, as a Leader in Residence, I can be that person for students now.”
