July 20, 2026

The Georgia Tech Alumni Association has announced the seventh annual class of 40 Under 40, with six George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering alumni among the honorees: 

• Niall Brown, ME 2013
• Bachir El Fil, Ph.D. ME 2021
• Roshan Kalghatgi, M.S. ME 2012
• Raj Siyasena, ME 2014
• Brennan Torstrick, M.S. BioE 2017, Ph.D. ME 2017
• Jeffrey Twum, ME 2013

Collectively, the Class of 2026 includes 40 impactful Yellow Jackets spanning 10 industries and hailing from 14 states. Honorees have founded eight companies and led more than 30 organizations. They include five healthcare and biomedical leaders, seven C-suite executives, 11 professors, researchers, or academic leaders, and six advanced technology and artificial intelligence innovators.

“This year’s 40 Under 40 honorees are redefining what it means to lead and make an impact. They are driving progress, solving critical challenges, and improving lives in countless ways. Their accomplishments are both inspiring and transformative, setting new standards of excellence,” says Alumni Association President Dene Sheheane, Mgt 1991. “I am proud to recognize these outstanding Yellow Jackets, whose leadership is shaping the future of our communities, our industries, and our world.” 

Nominees, who must have completed at least one semester at Georgia Tech and be under the age of 40 as of June 30, 2026, were scored using a 25-point rubric by a committee of over 28 faculty, staff, and volunteer leaders, who collectively represented all Georgia Tech colleges.

Meet the six Woodruff School alumni recognized in this year's class of 40 Under 40.
 

Flight Operations Manager | Metrea 

Niall Brown is a former U.S. Air Force officer and aviator who served 12 years on active duty, including five deployments supporting global operations. As an instructor pilot, he helped train and mentor the next generation of Air Force officers and pilots. Today, he is a flight operations manager at Metrea, leading complex aviation operations and modernization initiatives supporting global missions. In parallel, he co-founded Gulf Spore, a mushroom biotechnology company focused on transparency, community impact, and offering clean, thoughtfully crafted products, with his spouse, Brandi Brown, who is part of the 2025 class of Georgia Tech’s 40 Under 40. 

Favorite Tech Memory: Sharing our first kiss together in the Bio Quad with my now spouse, Brandi Brown, during senior year.

Assistant Professor | Georgia Tech

Bachir El Fil is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech, where he directs the Energy Innovation Lab. His group develops technologies at the intersection of thermal sciences and materials engineering, atmospheric water harvesting, thermochemical energy storage, and thermal management for AI data centers. His work has been published in Nature Reviews Materials, ACS Energy Letters, and Cell Press’ Device, and he is co-inventor on six patents. He is co-founder of WattAir, a climate-tech startup that spun off from projects funded by DARPA’s Atmospheric Water Extraction (AWE) program, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Breakthrough Energy Fellows. He earned his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech in 2021. 

Favorite Tech Memory: Studying in the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons during the 2017 snow day, looking up to a white campus and a memorable day with friends.

Navigation Systems Console Lead/Lunar Rover Engineer/Technical Advisor | KBR Wyle Inc. 

Roshan Kalghatgi is a principal robotics professional with KBR Wyle Inc., supporting NASA Ames Research Center as navigation systems console lead and lunar rover engineer for the VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rove) lunar rover mission. His work focuses on navigation hardware, computer vision, robotics, and AI-assisted mission operations for space exploration. Prior to NASA, he contributed to advanced autonomy programs at Aurora Flight Sciences, including DARPA’s ALIAS program. He also serves as board chair of the Redwood City Library Foundation. He earned his master’s in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech in 2012. 

Favorite Tech Memory: Meeting my wife and lifelong friends at Georgia Tech, relationships that continue to enrich my life 15 years later.

Vice President, Product & Engineering | Backbone 

Raj Siyasena builds technology for communities with passion and purpose. As vice president of product & engineering at Backbone, he leads the software team for a global gaming platform with millions of users. A Georgia Tech mechanical engineering graduate, Siyasena has helped scale products across gaming, beauty, and fintech verticals. His career has centered on expanding access and opportunity through software. He founded Cltch in Atlanta to serve local mechanics and underserved car care professionals, helped rethink fulfillment as a service at Amazon, contributed to Stack Overflow through major growth and its nearly $2 billion exit, and helped beauty professionals run their businesses through the Covid era as an early payments leader at GlossGenius. Today, he is advancing the future of gaming at Backbone through hands-on product leadership, AI-assisted development, and internal AI harnesses that help teams build faster and better for players around the world. 

Favorite Tech Memory: Cramming for a calc final in a Klaus lecture room, only for it to somehow turn into an all-night karaoke party.

Chief Scientific Officer | Huxley Medical, Inc. 

Brennan Torstrick is co-founder, president, and chief scientific officer of Huxley Medical, Inc. Huxley’s SANSA device is a chest-worn patch that diagnoses sleep apnea and cardiac arrhythmias simultaneously and has been used by thousands of patients. Torstrick previously co-founded Vertera Spine, Inc. based on his Georgia Tech Ph.D. research on porous biomaterials. The technology was acquired by NuVasive in 2017 and has been used in tens of thousands of spinal fusion implantations. Across both companies, Torstrick has led development, clinical trials, regulatory efforts, and reimbursement strategy. Additionally, he has secured over $2 million in non-dilutive federal grants and holds multiple patents.

Favorite Tech Memory: Seeing the live data readout of my first successful research study and realizing that we were on to something.

Senior Technical Program Manager | Amazon Leo

Jeffrey Twum is a mechanical systems engineer whose fingerprints are on four NASA Goddard Space Flight Center missions: MMS, ICESat-2, PACE, and DAVINCI. Most notably, he led the Solar Array Deployment System development for the PACE mission, earning a Robert H. Goddard Award for engineering and NASA Group Achievement Award. As an associate branch head, he advised engineers across missions, including the Roman Space Telescope and LUCY. Twum now brings that expertise to Amazon Leo as a senior technical program manager for Satellite Mechanical Systems. He holds a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech and a master’s from the University of Maryland.

Favorite Tech Memory: Playing pickup basketball at the CRC with all my friends.