SNAME Blog

Longtime SNAME member Dr. Lambros Kaiktsis, a native of Greece, is living out a new career chapter teaching in Qatar at the University of Doha for Science and Technology (UDST).

An academic and researcher with more than 25 years of professional experience in academic and research institutions as well as the engineering industry, Kaiktsis is now a professor leading the UDST Department of Marine Engineering, a position he took in 2023.

Kaiktsis earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. He later earned a Master of Science degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University in the United States and a Ph.D. in mechanical and process engineering from ETH Zurich, a public university in Switzerland that primarily focuses on research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Kaiktsis’ primary research and professional focus throughout his career has been thermofluids, i.e., flow and combustion processes, with an emphasis on simulation-based approaches.
His background includes spending two decades as a faculty member in the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and academic work at ETH Zurich.

He co-founded ShipReality, a software company that develops advanced tools for the shipping sector and has also consulted for Wärtsilä Switzerland, now operating as WinGD (Winterthur Gas & Diesel). At UDST, Kaiktsis has been instrumental in the establishment of the Department of Marine Engineering; the department’s first cohort of students is expected to graduate in the summer of 2027.

Despite relocating to a country that doesn’t have a large SNAME presence, Kaiktsis continues his involvement with the Society and is currently guiding the local student community toward establishing a SNAME Student Section at UDST. “Throughout my career, particularly during my time at the National Technical University of Athens, the activities of the SNAME Greek Section were an important source of insight, helping me to better understand and stay current with the developments in the field,” he says.

Kaiktsis feels a responsibility to encourage colleagues, especially students, to engage with SNAME and benefit from the same opportunities he has had. Telling others about SNAME is a way of giving back to the community that has contributed so much to his professional development.

Students at UDST are still developing an understanding of the value and opportunities a Student Section can bring, so he is working to build that understanding. Kaiktsis says that seeing students develop professionally, broaden their horizons, and begin to realize their professional prospects is very rewarding. When he looks back at his career, Kaiktsis views his most important accomplishment so far as his “contribution to the education and development of students, particularly those I have supervised in thesis projects at the undergraduate, Master’s, and PhD levels.” When he is not working or volunteering, he enjoys spending time with family and friends.

SNAME is grateful to Lambros Kaiktsis for his years of education leadership, his student support and mentoring, and his championing of the Society.