Marine Innovation & Technology is a consulting firm which specializes in challenging offshore engineering problems involving complex hydrodynamics. We believe that technology is key to balancing economic targets, enhanced safety for personnel and respect for the environment. Since 2003, MI&T’s successful recipe for innovative solutions utilizes a proper mix of essential ingredients that includes understanding of our client’s needs, hard work, expertise and creativity.

The company’s principals:

Dominique Roddier

Dominique Roddier specializes in complex hydrodynamic problems ranging from wave energy production to LNG sloshing. He obtained his doctorate in Naval Architecture from UC Berkeley, and after working in Houston in the offshore division of ExxonMobil’s Upstream Research Company co-founded Marine Innovation & Technology. Dominique has over 45 technical publications, is an associate editor of the journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, is the Offshore Technology Symposium Coordinator of the ASME Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, and was recently the chair of SNAME Northern California Section. He is also an avid sailor, winner in his class of many regattas, including the San Francisco Big Boat Series.

Dominique currently serves as PPI's CTO.

Christian Cermelli

Christian Cermelli is a co-founder of Marine Innovation & Technology. Prior to that, he was a Senior Research Engineer with Shell International E&P in their Floating Systems group in Houston. He has also worked with Technip in France and Coflexip in Brazil on many offshore projects. Christian has acquired a vast experience in the design of numerous floaters, including TLP’s, spars, semi-submersible platforms and FPSO’s. His credentials include a PhD in Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering at UC Berkeley, and he is a Registered Professional Engineer in Texas.

Christian currently serves as PPI's Chief Naval Architect and is the WindFloat demo Project Manager in Portugal.

The company’s team include:

Alexia Aubault

Senior Naval Architect / Structural and Hydro Lead

Alexia Aubault joined Marine Innovation & Technology in 2005. A graduate of Ecole National Superieure de Techniques Avancees, a Technology Institute of ParisTech, in Paris, France, she had just earned a Master in Ocean Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. At MI&T, she has worked on global design of floating structures, complex hydrodynamic modeling and structural loading and analysis. She has been involved in oil and gas conception analysis as well as renewable energy projects. She carried out structural studies for the MiniFloat and WindFloat and was lead structural engineer during the design and fabrication of the WindFloat prototype. In her spare time, Alexia pursues her fascination for the ocean through sailing.

Antoine Peiffer

Naval Architect / Aero and Hydrodynamics

Antoine Peiffer joined the engineering team of MI&T in September 2009. He is a marine engineer and a passionate advocate of marine renewable energies, notably offshore wind and wave power. He received his MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley with an emphasis in Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture. Antoine is delighted to be part of the WindFloat design team mostly because of the opportunity to work on an innovative marine renewable energy technology that will be deployed in the real world, and the possibility to sense the results of the engineering studies and analyses performed during two long years! During his free time, Antoine enjoys all the outdoor activities that the Bay Area generously offers, notably mountain biking, surfing, kite-boarding, and tennis.

Alireza Lahijanian

Structural Engineer

I joined MI&T engineering team in January 2011. I am originally from Iran, and I immigrated to California eight years ago. Engineering became my passion, after realizing how it can be used to preserve our planet. The extent of damage to our planet due to non-clean energies is a motivating factor for me to work towards a solution. As a result, I became involved with a clean energy research project at UC Berkeley. I continued my studies and through rigorous training achieved a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. I strongly believe that life on earth will not be possible in the near future if clean energy does not become our primary source of energy.

Alan Lum

Mechanical engineer / CAD Guru

Alan Lum, a graduate from UC Berkeley with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, joined MI&T team in the Spring of 2011 with hopes of developing an innovative product in the renewable energy industry. He is excited to be working on the Windfloat because of its sophisticated structural design that allows for long-term offshore wind harvesting. When not working on modeling the Windfloat, Alan enjoys slickdealing and rooting for the Sharks.

Rebecca Simon

Office Manager

Rebecca Simon joined Marine Innovation and Technology in fall of 2010 as their Office Manager. Rebecca is a graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles. Rebecca is happy to provide support to the engineering team as they work on the WindFloat and other projects. When she is not working Rebecca spends her time running and painting.

Nico van der Kolk

Naval Architect

On temp leave. Nico recently left the bay area to go to grad school in the Netherlands..