Ali Besharatian is a research fellow at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Technology in 2007, and completed his M.S. degree and Ph.D. both in electrical engineering, at the University of Michigan, in 2009 and 2013 respectively. As an undergraduate student, he studied additional courses in optoelectronics, photonics and photonic crystals. He has also been involved as an intern in renovation and expansion of the Micro-Technology and Nano-Electronics (MT-NE) laboratory at Sharif University of Technology (2006-07), where he participated in installation and characterization of new fabrication facilities.

Upon graduation, Ali joined the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, to pursue his Ph.D. in Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS). Since April 2008, he has been with Prof. Khalil Najafi's research group, the Center for Wireless Integrated MicroSensing and Systems (WIMS), and Solid State Electronics Laboratory (SSEL), as a graduate student research assistant (2008-13), and later as a research fellow (2013-present). His research interests include developing new microfabrication and packaging technologies, 3D MEMS, vacuum-on-chip and integrated gas micropump with applications in handheld material sensors, acoustic transducers and micro coolers.

As a MEMS researcher and scholar, Dr. Besharatian has been involved in all phases of the DARPA-funded Chip-Scale Vacuum Micro-Pump (CSVMP) Program, at the University of Michigan, where his Ph.D. thesis research resulted in development of the Honeycomb Pump (HCP), and corresponding MEMS, micromachining and packaging technologies, and received major media coverage and news release. The program aimed at developing micropump-enabled micro gas analyzers (MGAs) to detect and prevent chemical and biological threats, but the breakthrough technology can also be applied to a wide-range of clinical or consumer-based handheld chemical, biological and environmental monitoring systems as well as micro acoustic transducers. The success of DARPA CSVMP helped the Michigan team to receive new funding from DTRA to develop micro-vacuum pump enabled gas analyzers under DTRA MGA-MVP program, where Dr. Besharatian was involved with kick-starting the new research contract by supervising, mentoring, and training new students, as well as transferring developed technologies to new research topics, applications and devices.

Dr. Besharatian has also been involved in several outreach programs and student associations, including being a co-founder and vice-president of the Nanotechnology and Integrated Microsystems Student Association (NIMSA), a board member of the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility (LNF) users Committee (LNFC), and is a recipient of the LNF Director's Leadership Award (2011) for outstanding dedication and service within the LNF.