Sridhar Kilara Iya

Dr. Sridhar K. Iya, 83, passed away peacefully at his home in Gig Harbor, WA, on March 15, 2024. He was a devoted husband and father, and a highly accomplished engineer.

Sri was born in Bangalore (now called Bengaluru), India, on March 27, 1940; he was the youngest of nine children. Growing up, he enjoyed playing cricket and volleyball, and was a top student and Indian Government merit scholar. After obtaining his Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science in 1962, he received a scholarship to Brown University and immigrated to the United States. At Brown he received his second Masters in Engineering. He married his wife, Malini, in 1970. The following year, he received his PhD in Fuel Science from Penn State.

Sri had an illustrious 40+ year career as an engineer, starting with the Union Carbide Corporation in 1974, where he spent 13 years. Later he would join the Boeing Company, Defense division, and retired after 26 years of service there.

In the 1970s and early 1980s Sri and Malini resided in upstate New York, where their children, Vivek and Neeta, were born. While at Union Carbide, Sri became an industry expert on technology developments for ultra-high purity silicon material production. In 1982 a job transfer opportunity led Sri and family to embark on a cross-country road trip, relocating to the Pacific Northwest.

In 1987 Sri became a US citizen. By then he had already received several work-related accolades, but considered this to be one of his proudest milestones. That same year he began his long and distinguished career at Boeing. Sri worked on U.S. Department of Defense and NASA contracts with Boeing’s Defense group. In the 1990s he provided technical leadership on the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, and was later recognized for outstanding performance after developing a highly innovative weapon system level assessment approach for subsystem optimization. The technologies that he helped develop were subsequently transitioned to the F-35 aircraft. He used his broad knowledge of aircraft subsystems, fuel cells, and thermal management to contribute to publications such as International Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) aerospace reports and NASA Tech Briefs, and received awards of recognition from NASA, SAE, and various other professional organizations.

In the 2000s Sri worked as a Tech Leader at Boeing Phantom Works, which was focused on developing advanced military products and technologies (many of them highly classified). He became an Associate Technical Fellow around this time as well. Sri retired from Boeing in 2013. Over his career he authored numerous technical papers in his field, received several industry awards, and is the holder of several US patents (https://www.patentguru.com/inventor/iya-sridhar-k).

Sri was known for his kind, modest, and gentle nature, as well as his quick wit, sense of humor, and love of sweets. Despite accomplishing so much in his career, he always found time for family and was very supportive of his children’s education, hobbies, and interests. Among his passions, he loved to travel and saw much of the world through business trips and family vacations. He traveled to six continents and especially enjoyed going back to India to visit his siblings and extended family.

Sri was cremated at Haven of Rest in Gig Harbor in a Hindu ceremony. He leaves behind his wife of 53 years, Malini, son Vivek (Sarah), and daughter Neeta.

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