Dr. Burak Aksak

Biography

Burak Aksak is a Teaching Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University, having joined in Spring 2025. Prior to his tenure at CMU, he served as an Associate Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Texas Tech University from 2012 to 2023, where he also acted as Associate Department Chair from 2019 to 2022. Aksak has a strong entrepreneurial background, having co-founded Setex Technologies Inc., a CMU spin-off in 2009, and serving as Vice President from 2022. He was involved with the acquisition of Setex by Shin-Etsu Chemical Company in 2024, leading efforts to assist technology transfer at Shin-Etsu MicroSi. His teaching interests encompass mechanics design courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels, with a keen interest in incorporating biomimicry, advanced materials, and entrepreneurship-related themes into engineering courses. Aksak’s research primarily focuses on bioinspired engineering, particularly the design and study of engineering systems such as adhesives, actuators, and sensors inspired by biological systems.

Research Interests