Expert Details
Materials Engineering, Polymers, Metallurgy, Chemistry, Corrosion, and Adhesion Science
ID: 736551
Colorado, USA
Expert began a technical consulting career at a national engineering and scientific consulting firm, where Expert managed more than 90 failure investigations across pipelines, water mains, medical devices, coatings, electronics, and consumer products, while also providing expert testimony in early litigation matters. Expert subsequently established an independent consulting practice, providing technical advisory, innovation leadership, and intellectual property services to clients in advanced materials, coatings, and packaging, including a period as an R&D metallurgist developing catalytic coatings for carbon-free ammonia production technology.
Expert is a named inventor on more than 110 patents and patent applications, including 37 issued U.S. patents, and has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and technical reports. Expert has an extensive expert witness practice, having provided expert reports, declarations, and sworn testimony at deposition and trial/hearing across a range of patent, trade secret, and materials failure litigation matters.
Education
| Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year: 2003 | Degree: M.S. | Subject: Metallurgical and Materials Engineering | Institution: Colorado School of Mines |
| Year: 1994 | Degree: Ph.D. | Subject: Inorganic Chemistry | Institution: Yale University |
| Year: 1988 | Degree: B.S. | Subject: Chemistry | Institution: University of California, Berkeley |
Work History
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years: 2007 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: President | Department: Materials Scientist / Metallurgist |
Responsibilities:• Serves as technical advisor across multiple engagements spanning catalytic coatings for combustion applications, intellectual property services for carbon-negative chemical production, and project management in analytical chemistry/electron microscopy• Serves as fractional CTO and intellectual property advisor for an early-stage materials startup, directing university research groups developing cellulosic adhesives • Serves as a platinum-level inventor within an open innovation network supporting Fortune 500 clients in advanced materials, packaging, and coatings • Has served as expert witness, testifying at trial and deposition, in a trade secret dispute involving photocatalytic coatings • Served as lead analyst and author of three research reports for an international scientific research organization on innovative methods for critical minerals mining (nickel, copper, silicon) • Served as group innovation leader for a major consumer beverage/snack company, with sixteen packaging design concepts adopted, including low-cost packaging sensors, sustainable e-commerce packaging, and spill-proof beverage packaging • Serves as an instructor for a national materials science professional society, teaching two polymer science courses for medical device professionals |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2023 to 2024 | Employer: Starfire Energy | Title: R&D Metallurgist / Intellectual Property | Department: |
Responsibilities:Venture-Backed Startup Developing Modular Carbon-Free Ammonia Production Reactors.• Developed a new catalytic coating for production monoliths, replacing a precious-metal formulation with a lower-cost transition metal, improving production rate by 400% and lowering operating temperature by 125°C • Led research on catalyst formulation and adhesion optimization on thermally oxidized stainless steel and high-nickel alloys, reducing adhesion loss from 5% to under 1% • Converted a catalytic coating synthesis process from a flammable/toxic method to a water-based method, enabling reactor scale-up • Expanded materials characterization capabilities, including ICP-OES, GD-OES, XRD, TGA, FE-SEM, and optical microscopy • Filed four provisional patent applications |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2002 to 2007 | Employer: Exponent Failure Analysis Associates | Title: Senior Scientist | Department: |
Responsibilities:• Served as project manager on more than 90 engineering failure investigations involving oil and gas pipelines, water mains, medical devices, coatings and paints, electronics, and consumer products• Provided expert witness testimony and expert opinions in matters involving a fractured iron water main component, glass surface treatments, and aluminum beverage container coatings • Delivered technical presentations to federal regulatory agencies in product liability matters |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1995 to 1998 | Employer: Exponent Enviromental | Title: Scientist | Department: |
Responsibilities:Project management, technical analysis |
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Additional Experience
| Expert Witness Experience |
|---|
| Expert has an extensive expert witness practice spanning patent litigation, trade secret disputes, and metallurgical/materials failure analysis matters, dating back to the early 2000s. Expert has been engaged as a testifying expert in at least 9 distinct matters, providing a combination of written expert reports, declarations, and expert opinions, along with sworn testimony at deposition and at trial/hearing on at least 4 occasions. Subject matter has included: patent non-infringement, invalidity, and claim construction analysis in a materials/coatings-related patent dispute (including expert report, Markman hearing testimony, and multiple claim-construction declarations in a single matter); metallurgical failure analysis of a fractured brass valve component in a wrongful-death property matter; failure analysis of molded polycarbonate and PET packaging materials in product recall and inventory-loss disputes; a trade secret dispute involving photocatalytic coating and air purification technology (testimony provided at both arbitration hearing and deposition); a patent infringement matter involving silicone elastomers in a medical device (litigation support and mechanical testing); a glass container surface-treatment dispute; and a corrosion failure analysis of cement-lined ductile iron pipe in a property-damage matter (deposition testimony). Earlier in Expert's career, Expert also provided expert testimony and opinions in matters involving a fractured iron water main flange and aluminum beverage container coatings. |
Career Accomplishments
| Licenses / Certifications |
|---|
| P.E. license, Colorado, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering |
| Awards / Recognition |
|---|
| Platinum-level inventor recognition within an open innovation network serving Fortune 500 clients in advanced materials, packaging, and coatings |
| Publications and Patents Summary |
|---|
| 110+ patents and patent applications, including 37 issued U.S. patents, in advanced materials, processing, and coatings — spanning categories including advanced/self-cleaning and hydrophilic coatings, flexible films and barriers for electronics, food and beverage packaging materials, polymers and materials processing (including active filters and fiber-matrix separation), and chemical/pathogen sensing devices 9 selected peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations, covering topics including stress corrosion cracking of stainless steel recreational climbing equipment, accelerated aging of irradiated medical-grade polymers, environmental stress cracking failure analysis of polycarbonate components, fracture behavior of micro-alloyed steel plate, and organometallic/transition metal hydride chemistry (doctoral research) 3 authored research/innovation reports for an international scientific research organization on critical minerals mining methods |