Da Capo Innovations, Inc.

Alan Shih

President

Trained in aerospace engineering, Dr. Shih’s research started in developing technologies associated with turbomachinery performance simulations. During his appointment as a research scientist at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois, he served as the onsite lead in the Scientific Visualization area, working closely with the Army Engineer Research and Development Center for four years to develop and transfer innovative visualization technologies to the Department of Defense’s research communities. He joined the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) as a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, where he established and led the Enabling Technology Laboratory (ETLab). The lab focused on numerical geometry, mesh generation, virtual environments, and high-performance computing. As the inaugural Director of ETLab for nine years, Dr. Shih’s leadership fostered cross-disciplinary collaborations in aerospace, automotive, biomedical, and health sciences. He secured sustained research funding from organizations such as NASA, DOD, DOE, DHS, NIH, and various industry partners. These research efforts led to the disclosure of over 15 inventions, many of which were successfully licensed and commercialized. Between 2005 and 2014, Dr. Shih was a member of the Board of Directors for the Alabama Modeling and Simulation Council (AMSC), an organization dedicated to fostering collaboration and advancing the field of modeling and simulation (M&S) on a national level. Before joining the City College of New York (CCNY), Dr. Shih served in a senior leadership role with a startup company specializing in patent analysis tools for intellectual property professionals. Recognized for his career achievements and contributions to the research community, he was awarded the Associate Fellow honor at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

In his entrepreneurship journey, Dr. Shih co-founded Amplicode, Inc. in Alabama, successfully secured an Air Force SBIR Phase-I award. Amplicode was awarded with a subcontract in another SBIR Phase-II project sponsored by the Missile Defense Agency. Amplicode successfully license out its technology to a major aerospace entity in 2011. He founded Da Capo Innovations, Inc. in 2020 and received several innovation awards to develop current portfolio of technologies.

During his entrepreneurial journey, Dr. Shih co-founded Amplicode, Inc. in Alabama, where he successfully secured a Phase I SBIR award from the U.S. Air Force. Amplicode was later awarded a subcontract under a Phase II SBIR project sponsored by the Missile Defense Agency. In 2011, the company successfully licensed its technology to a major aerospace corporation. In 2020, Dr. Shih founded Da Capo Innovations, Inc., which has since received multiple innovation awards in support of its growing portfolio of technologies.