Mehdi Sarram was born in Iran, came to the US in 1961 to study nuclear engineering at the University of Michigan. After receiving his post graduate degree in 1967, he went back to Iran and became an assistant professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Tehran as well as the supervisor of the American supplied 5 MW nuclear research reactor. In 1974, he transferred to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and became the director of nuclear safeguards and security. He left Iran in 1981 and worked for the department of safeguards at IAEA and then came to the US in 1982. He became a US citizen in 1988 and has been working for the US nuclear industry since then. He has traveled to 38 countries and has 46 years nuclear experience. He has over 30 scientific publications.