Presenter: Professor Richard Wiesman, MIT MechE

Abstract: 

Richard Wiesman is a graduate of Course 2 at MIT; a Professor of the Practice in Course 2; a Senior Fellow at General Atomics: and a Senior Advisor at Arsenal Capital Partners.  Since coming back to MIT, one of the most common career question areas he’s been asked about by students deals with a feeling that they will need to decide, at some point, if they want to, “remain technical” or move into management or finance oriented roles to advance.  The truth is that the career they’ve selected in mechanical engineering allows them to do it all, if they wish. 

Dr. Wiesman reflects on his career to date, and the fact that he’s been able to pursue both technical and management interests and incorporate finance activities along the way.  Much of his career was at Foster-Miller, a company that grew out of the Mechanical Engineering Department and was acquired by QinetiQ about 16 years ago.  At Foster-Miller, Dr. Wiesman had the freedom to pursue new technical and business areas and grow some of those areas into some of the main businesses at QinetiQ US today.  Two of those areas are discussed: specialized robotics and unmanned systems; and special electric machines and actuators. 

New projects in the development of products or processes typically involve the understanding or derivation of requirements.  Requirements almost always involve technical and performance specifications along with certain key cost and financial issues.  The later typically includes things like the capital cost, the total life cycle cost, and payback time for the customer.  A technically brilliant design may face market headwinds if it can’t provide the desired payback or if the total cost of ownership is excessive.  A truly good product or process design needs to successfully incorporate innovative technical approaches while also satisfying the cost and payback requirements. 

As mentioned above, projects in two technical areas are discussed.  The first is the development of special electric machines and actuators.  The presenter’s interest in this area began with his doctoral thesis work on high speed linear induction machines for transportation applications.  That work at MIT led Dr. Wiesman to working on the Navy’s Electro Magnetic Aircraft Launch System and the Advanced Arresting Gear system.  Both of these systems are being manufactured and supported by General Atomics with QinetiQ as an important contributing partner.  The second project area covers the development of mobile and specialized robotics and unmanned systems.  Dr. Wiesman’s work in this area started in 1983 with the development of a new class of explosive ordnance disposal robots which was the beginning of what grew into a successful business in mobile robots for hazardous ground-based activities.  Examples of other work in this general area includes the development of special robots for internal pipe inspection; robots for warehouse and packing activities; and the analysis of robot team characteristics for planetary exploration and development. 

Bio:

Dr. Wiesman recently joined General Atomics, and as a Senior Fellow he will be developing new products and processes, and supervising technical activities in unmanned systems, space systems, sensors, electric machines and actuators, communications and energy. He will be based in General Atomics’ new Boston office. 

In 2007, Dr. Wiesman became a Professor of the Practice in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He has taught and supervised research in the areas of design, product development, robotics, controls, and manufacturing. He also served as co-director of MIT’s Field and Space Robotics Laboratory. 

In 2019, Dr. Wiesman joined Arsenal Capital Partners as a Senior Advisor and Advisory Board Member in Arsenal’s Specialty Industrials Area. Arsenal is a specialized private equity firm with focus in Special Industrials and Healthcare. 

Prior to his current position at GA, Dr. Wiesman was Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of QinetiQ North America, and Foster-Miller. Foster-Miller was acquired by QinetiQ in 2004. He joined Foster-Miller in 1983 where he also founded the Electrical and Electronic Systems Group. He has an extensive background in systems engineering, modeling and simulation, electromechanical and mechanical design and analysis, distributed controls, smart sensors and communications, and program management. 

Dr. Wiesman received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from M.I.T. in June 1976. He also earned a Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from M.I.T. in February 1983.

Zoom information: https://mit.zoom.us/j/97122453135