David Eisenberg

Background

About David Eisenberg

I’m a Mechanical Engineer who has worked on and managed projects spanning a wide array of topics. My team is interdisciplinary (including chemists, ChemEs, MechEs, electrical engineers, a material scientist, and a physicist). We draw on these diverse backgrounds to develop really novel technology. Since starting at TDA Research in 2015, I’ve lead projects including: • Neural networks to predict wear in woven fabrics (webbing) • Ultra-high temperature (>1600 C) fiber optic thermometers • Low-cost infrasound sensors (low frequency acoustic sensors) networked into large arrays • Active personal cooling garments to keep workers cool • Electromagnetic thawing for cryopreserved transplantable organs • Normothermic machine perfusion for transplantable organs • Thermostatic air temperature control system for mine rescue rebreathers I also contributed to other people’s projects: • Neural networks to predict mental and physiological states based on readings from wearable sensors • Thermal sensors for measuring radiative and convective heat transfer to predict damage to fire fighter face masks and warn them before they are in danger • Neural network to analyze electromagnetic inductive coupling analysis (EMICA) data for non-destructive testing in carbon fiber composites • Neural network to predict corrosion properties of Aluminum based on crystallographic images • Water capture and conservation at natural gas power plants Since my company is small, I've become a jack of all trades and taken on a wide variety of roles such as: • Developing project ideas • Writing grant proposals • Project / team management • Machine learning / neural networks • Experimental system design • Running experiments / collecting data • Data analysis • Simulations (finite difference / finite element) • Engineering calculations (heat/mass transfer, solid mechanics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, electromagnetics) • Report writing Another big part of my job is science communication. I need to communicate nuanced, technical information to various audiences including funding agencies, collaborators, end users, and commercial partners. Each audience has different expectations, backgrounds, and interests, and I need to tailor my communication style to each one. I develop a “narrative” for each project so that I can easily explain to people why a certain field is important, the problems with current technology, and why my technology is going to fix the problems.