NSE Composites was founded in 1996 with a passion for the future of advanced composites. Since then, NSE has completed hundreds of projects spanning a wide range of industries, and has played an important role in the development of composites for use in primary structural applications in commercial aircraft.
NSE Composites is managed by two principal engineers: D.M. Hoyt and Doug Graesser. Together with NSE’s engineering staff and consultants, they bring several decades of combined experience to any composite structures application project.
D.M. HOYT
Principal Engineer
D.M. Hoyt (“Hoyt”) has over 25 years of experience with aerospace structures and composite material applications. Since forming NSE in 1996, he has served as a project manager and principal investigator for numerous engineering contracts involving structural analysis, testing, design, repair, and certification of composite materials. Projects have included the development and validation of analysis methods and allowables, detailed structural analysis, damage tolerance evaluations, and test program planning. Hoyt’s areas of specialization include static and fatigue delamination growth, bolted and bonded joints, progressive damage finite element analysis, and composites failure characterization. Before forming NSE, Hoyt worked at Boeing on the 777 aircraft program in the areas of composite analysis methods and allowables, composite elevator stress analysis, and 777 production line support (structures liaison). Hoyt is a member of ASTM-D30, SAE, SAMPE, ASME, and is an active participant in the Composite Materials Handbook (CHM-17) working group. Hoyt earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Washington.
DOUG GRAESSER, PhD
Principal Engineer
Doug Graesser has over 25 years of experience in design and analysis with composite materials and aerospace structures. He joined NSE in 2001. His primary responsibilities include project management and lead investigation for technical contracts related to development of software analysis tools for engineering applications. Doug is the chief architect of a structural optimization tool used in the design and analysis of composite panels for fuselage and wingbox structures. Doug also has extensive experience with detailed finite element analysis involving progressive damage simulation, linear and non-linear stability, and non-linear material behavior. Prior to joining NSE, Doug spent 10 years as a structural engineer with the Boeing Company. His experience includes the 747, 767, and 777 airplane programs, and the NASA Advanced Composite Technology (ACT) fuselage development program. Doug earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Washington.
TOM WALKER
Principal Engineer
Tom Walker is a structural analyst with over 35 years of experience with composite aircraft structures. He has been with NSE since 2000, where he manages and serves as principal investigator for a variety of technical contracts, largely related to residual strength and damage tolerance. Prior to joining NSE, Tom spent 20 years in Boeing’s Commercial Airplane unit, where he was involved in the development and application of advanced composite concepts to primary structure. He has extensive experience in developing and validating analysis techniques, as well as structural testing. Tom is an industry expert on the residual strength of composite sandwich panels and stiffened laminate structure. He has been actively involved in Composites Materials Handbook 17, where he was co-chairman of the Damage Tolerance Task Group from 2001-2015. Tom earned his MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering from the University of Washington and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Washington.
MARK LOBO, PhD
Senior Stress Engineer
Mark Lobo is a structural analyst with over 20 years of experience in the aerospace, construction, and manufacturing industries. He has worked with NSE since 2001, where he has been involved in a variety of composite structures projects, including bonded and bolted repair, large notch residual strength, and interlaminar fracture. He has extensive experience with non-linear finite element analysis using ABAQUS and MSC.Marc, and has an expert knowledge of progressive damage analysis, interface elements, user elements, and contact surface interactions. Mark is a principal contributor to NSE’s development of advanced fracture mechanics analysis, including VCCT-based finite element technology for modeling progressive damage under static and fatigue loading. He is also proficient with FORTRAN coding. Mark earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington.
MATT MEYERS
Senior Stress Engineer
Matt Meyers is a structural analyst with nearly 15 years of experience in the composites, automotive, and oil/gas industries. He has worked with NSE since 2008, where he has been involved with composite structures projects related to large-notch residual strength, non-traditional layups, bolted joints, allowables, stability, and analysis method validation (COSTADE). He has a strong working knowledge of finite element analysis (ABAQUS), including progressive damage via interface elements, eigenvalue analysis, and non-linear response. He also has extensive experience with statistical methods and designed experiments, and is proficient with Visual Basic and Fortran coding. Matt earned his MS in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
PATRICK ENJUTO
Senior Stress Engineer
Patrick Enjuto is a structural analyst with over 15 years of experience with composite aircraft structures. He has worked with NSE since 2012, where he has been involved with allowables development and large-notch residual strength analysis. Prior to joining NSE, Patrick worked at NASA LARC, Gamesa, Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Spirit Aerosystems. He has participated in the development of the Boeing 787, Embraer EMB-170/190 and Airbus A350 and A400M airplane programs, as well as the Sikorsky S-92 rotorcraft program. He has extensive experience in developing and validating analysis techniques, structural testing, detailed structural analysis and production line support all at the lead stress engineer level. He is actively involved in Composites Materials Handbook 17 as co-chairman of the Damage Tolerance Task Group. Patrick earned his MS in Mechanical Engineering from JIAFS NASA Langley – George Washington University.