
Dr. Carlos A. Barrera is a Managing Engineer in Exponent’s Thermal Sciences practice in Menlo Park. Dr. Barrera’s background in chemical and nuclear engineering provides an
excellent foundation for his consulting work in the analysis and investigation of fires,
explosions, product failures, and chemical process upsets. His areas of expertise and interest
include chemical process safety, chemical plant operations, semi-conductor fabrication, the
paper industry, process hazard analysis (PHA) for chemical processes, reactive chemistry, as
well as unitary operations characterization and design, project management, and industrial
safety and risk analysis programs. He has extensive knowledge in ionizing radiation detection,
radioactive source handling, computational radiation transport, and digital image processing and
reconstruction.
Dr. Barrera has investigated fires in both commercial and residential settings, and has
participated in the investigation of explosions and process upset in multiple production facilities.
Recently he has focused in reactive chemistry incidents involving pyrophoric, shock sensitive
and energetic materials, including phosphorus and silicon compounds used in the semiconductor
industry. Additionally, Dr. Barrera has leaded multiple PHAs using techniques like
HAZOP, LOPA, and What-If among others.
In recent years, Dr. Barrera has actively participated in the organization of international
technical conferences in process safety, serving as chair and co-chair of sessions and delivering
invited talks. Most recently he has been the founding co-chair of the newly established AIChE
Process Safety Management Mentoring Symposium aimed new process safety professionals.
Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Barrera was a Graduate Research Fellow at the Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, CA, where he conducted research on radiation
detection at the National Ignition Facility; in particular he worked on the development of
neutron imaging for inertial confinement fusion experiments. Before joining Berkeley, he was a
project engineer for The Dow Chemical Co. in Colombia, where he was in charge of design,
planning, and execution of capital and improvement projects for three production units, as well
as coordinator of the contractor safety program. Also in Colombia, he conducted his
undergraduate research in pollution control methods for the paper industry.
Academic Credentials and Professional Honors
- Ph.D., Nuclear Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, 2007
- M.S., Nuclear Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, 2004
- B.S., Chemical Engineering, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana Medellin, Colombia, 1998
- Student-Employee Graduate Research Fellowship (SEGRF), Lawrence Livermore National
- Laboratory, 2004–2007; Distinguished Undergraduate Chemical Engineering Student
- Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, 1996
Licenses and Certifications
- Licensed Chemical Engineer, California, #CH 6378
- 40-Hour Training, Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) for Team Leaders
- Hazard Identification (HAZID) for the process industries
- 40-Hour Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response training program in accordance
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with OSHA 29 CFR Part 1910.120
-
Fire Investigation 1A certification by the State of California Fire MarshalL
Languages
- Spanish
Professional Affiliations/Positions
- Co-chair of the Process Safety Management Mentoring Symposium, 9th AIChE Global
- Congress on Process Safety, San Antonio, Texas, 2013
- Session Chair for Case Histories and Lessons Learned session, 5th CCPS Latin American
- Conference on Process Safety, Cartagena, Colombia, 2013
- Member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers—AIChE
- Member of the American Nuclear Society—ANS
Past Professional Affiliations/Positions
- Co-chair of the Process Safety Management Mentoring Symposium, 8th AIChE Global
- Congress on Process Safety, Houston, Texas, 2012
- Co-chair Management of change session, 4th Latin American Conference on Process
- Safety, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2012
- Co-chair Process Safety Management Systems session, 3rd CCPS Latin American
- Conference on Process Safety, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011
- Co-chair Risk Assessment – Consequence Modeling and QRA session, 45th AIChE Loss
- Prevention Symposium, Chicago, 2011
- Member of the ASTM E10 “Nuclear Technology and Applications” committee
- Member of the ASTM E58 “Forensic Engineering” committee