Petya Georgieva Fernlund, Ph.D., MSE, ’06

As manager of Siemens GT Risk Management Organization, Petya Georgieva Fernlund leads a global team responsible for ensuring the quality of the Gas Turbine engineering products. In her position, she oversees strategy and the portfolio; coordinates on root cause analysis and quality issues resolution; works on risk analysis and management; and supports the professional growth of employees within her organization. Previously, she worked three years as a quality manager, leading a team of managers for different Siemens Gas Turbine high-risk and high value development projects. She was the quality manager for the rapidly developing, fast-to-market program for a particular Siemens gas turbine engine.

While working towards her doctoral degree, Petya was a Research Associate in UCF’s Advanced Materials Processing & Analysis Center (AMPAC). In this role, she worked in collaboration (funded projects) with industry and academia (Lockheed Martin, Office of Naval Research, Siemens, Constellation Technology); and conducted research and led the development of advanced materials and processes in the areas of: nanomaterials synthesis and consolidation, thermal spray processing and developing coating and bulk nanocomponents using plasma spray, metal/ceramic nanocomposites, surface engineering of materials, and more. She performed simulations of materials properties and performance, and correlation with experimental data.

She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry and physics from the University of Sofia in Bulgaria, and earned her doctoral degree from UCF in 2006.