Professor Najmedin Meshkati, PhD, CPE, is a professor of civil/environmental engineering, industrial & systems engineering, and international relations at the University of Southern California (USC); an associate with the Project on Managing the Atom at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; and has been an associate with the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard.

For the past 40 years, he has been teaching and conducting research on risk reduction and reliability enhancement of complex technological systems, including nuclear power, aviation, petrochemical and transportation industries. He has been selected by the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and National Research Council for his interdisciplinary expertise concerning human performance and safety culture and served as member and technical advisor on national panels investigating the Fukushima nuclear accident and the Deepwater Horizon explosion, fire, and oil spill.

Professor Meshkati served as a Jefferson Science Fellow and a senior science and engineering advisor in the Office of Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State at the U.S. Department of State. He has been a commissioner of The Joint Commission and is on the Governance Board of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation. In January 2023, he was appointed to the FAA Expert Panel to conduct a congressionally mandated review of Boeing's safety management processes and Boeing's safety culture and was invited to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation about the panel's findings. He currently serves on the Diablo Canyon Independent Safety Committee.

Professor Meshkati is the only full-time USC faculty member who has continuously been conducting research on human factors and aviation safety-related issues and teaching in the USC Aviation Safety and Security Program for the past 30 years. He has received numerous honors, including the Dr. John K. Lauber Safety Award in recognition of outstanding achievements in aviation safety, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) inaugural "Titan of HFES" recognition, and the inaugural Joint Commission’s Ernest Armory Codman Lectureship and Award for leadership in continuously improving the safety and quality of care.