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Key Management

>Dr. Kessler is the founder and president of MDC. He received his S.B., S.M. and Ph.D. from the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with his research focused on composite materials and structural health monitoring. Prior to starting MDC, Dr. Kessler worked as an advanced concepts engineer at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, CA. In 1998, he received the MIT Admiral Luis De Florez Award, in 2001 was awarded the American Society for Composites (ASC) Ph.D. Research Scholarship, was a Draper Fellow in 1999 and has won best paper awards in 2002 from ASC, in 2009 the Prognostics & Health Management (PHM) Society, and in 2011 from the International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (IWSHM). Dr. Kessler holds 24 patents (several pending), and served as the Chair of the International Aerospace Industry Steering Committee on SHM. Dr. Kessler has published nearly 100 technical papers, has authored chapters in 3 textbooks, and guest lectures for advanced graduate courses on composite materials at MIT.

Company History

Metis Design Corporation (MDC) was founded in 2002 as a spin-out of research being conducted in the Technology Laboratory for Advanced Composites in the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Subsequently, MDC has thrived through a blend of government research grants and commercial development contracts totaling over $60M. MDC employs a diverse staff of creative and highly specialized engineers. A large majority of our engineers hold Ph.D.'s in Aerospace, Mechanical or Electrical Engineering, and combine creativity with hands-on experience and fundamental principles to develop novel solutions for a wide range of real-world challenges. The experience of the MDC staff spans a broad range of disciplines, ranging from defense and aerospace applications to medical devices and consumer products. MDC was selected as a finalist for the DoD Maintenance Innovation Challenge in 2017 & 2022, and received the "Most Practical SHM Solution for Aerospace" award from the International Workshop on SHM voting community in 2019 & 2023.