Top 500 Innovators, the 40.11 Group, visited Exponent, Inc.

On October 9, 2015, Top 500 Innovators visited the Menlo Park-based Exponent, Inc.. The visit was hosted and moderated by prof. Piotr Moncarz, Exponent’s Principal Engineer.

Exponent is a multidisciplinary consulting firm with over 700 consultants and technical personnel of which 60% hold doctoral (Ph.D.) and 27% master degrees. Exponent’s experts specialize in analyzing and solving important science, engineering and business problems for its clients in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

The Top 500 Innovators had an opportunity to listen to following presentations:

• Fionna Mowat, Ph.D., Principal Scientist, gave a short introduction to sciences/health care at Exponent and a background of from-the-lab-to-the user/patient with the emphasis on the outside help needs, time, and money;
• Richard L. Schlenker, CFO & Corporate Vice President, provided a history and corporate model overview – the university nexus, the corporate culture of client/project in a multidisciplinary environment, the financial model, and last, but not least, the story of a company of super-performers, where and how the company finds them, how the company integrates and keeps them happy and super-performing;
• Steven Murray, Ph.D., P.E., Group Vice President & Principal Engineer, talked about thinking out-of-the-box, delivering what the client needs, if it does not know about it, what equipment the company has, how it is used, and why sophisticated hardware is not a collector item but a profit earning tool;
• Ellic Chan, Ph.D., M.B.A., M.S., B.S. introduced Deep Learning for Detecting Buried Explosive Hazards, and to the power of math, statistics, IT, and many other fields integrated into a project aimed at saving lives;
• Alexander W. Hudgins, Ph.D., P.E., provided some examples of multidisciplinary projects of young scientists at Exponent;
• Brun Hilbert, Jr., Ph.D., P.E. Principal Scientist, talked about geology, oil and gas, applied mechanics, and common sense supported by rigorous, multidisciplinary analysis.