 | |
 Headquarters in Menlo Park | |
| Formerly | Failure Analysis Associates, Inc. (1967–1988) The Failure Group, Inc. (1989–1998) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Research |
| Founded | April 1967; 58 years ago (1967-04), inPalo Alto, California, U.S. |
| Founders | Alan Stephen Tetelman Bernard Ross Marsh Pound John Shyne Sathya V. Hanagud |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people | Catherine F. Corrigan (CEO) |
Number of employees | 1,313 (December 30, 2022) |
| Website | exponent |
Exponent, Inc. is an Americanengineering andscientific consulting firm. Exponent has a team of scientists, physicians, engineers, and business consultants which performs research and analysis in more than 90 technical disciplines. The company operates 20 offices in the United States and five offices overseas.
Failure Analysis Associates (FaAA) was founded in April 1967 by thenStanford University professor Alan Stephen Tetelman along with his colleagues Bernard Ross, Marsh Pound, John Shyne and Sathya V. Hanagud with $500 in capital.[1][2][3]
At the time of FaAA's founding, Ross was also an engineering program manager atSRI International (then the Stanford Research Institute) (1965–1970).[4] While en route to the site of a Navy jet crash investigation, Tetelman was killed on September 25, 1978, in thePSA Flight 182 air crash over San Diego between a PSA jet liner and a private Cessna airplane that claimed the lives of 144 people. He was forty-two years old.[5]
Ross assumed the presidency of Failure Analysis Associates after the accident.[3] Ross and the late Tetelman were featured in a documentary film about the company titled "What Went Wrong" made by theUnited States Information Service and distributed worldwide.[6][7] Tetelman was a world-renowned expert in fracture mechanics and co-authored a textbook titled "The Principles of Engineering Materials" withCraig R. Barrett (formerCEO ofIntel) and Stanford professor, William D. Nix, published byPrentice-Hall in 1973.[5][8]
In 1982,Roger McCarthy assumed the leadership of FaAA, becoming chief executive officer in 1982 until 1996, and chairman of the board in 1986 until 2005. McCarthy joined FaAA in 1978 and became a director and vice-president in 1980.
In 2004, McCarthy was elected to theNational Academy of Engineering.[9]
Michael R. Gaulke served as the chief executive officer of Exponent Inc. from June 1996 to May 28, 2009. He is currently chairman of the board of directors. Mr. Gaulke served as president of Exponent Inc. from March 1993 to May 22, 2007. Mr. Gaulke first joined Exponent Inc. in September 1992 and served as its executive vice president and chief financial officer.
In 2008,Oregon State University inducted Mr. Gaulke into its Engineering Hall of Fame.[10]
Paul R. Johnston was the chief executive officer at Exponent Inc. from May 28, 2009 – May 31, 2018. Johnston was president of Exponent Inc. from May 2007 until July 2016. Johnston joined Exponent in 1981 and served as its Principal Engineer since 1987 and vice president since 1996.[11] Johnston has co-authored a book titled "Structural Dynamics by Finite Elements" published by Prentice-Hall in 1987.[12] On May 31, 2018, Johnston stepped down from the position of chief executive officer to be an executive chairman.[13]
Catherine F. Corrigan was named president of Exponent, Inc. on July 29, 2016. Corrigan joined Exponent's Philadelphia office in 1996, was promoted to principal in 2002 and to corporate vice president in 2005. Corrigan was promoted to group vice president to lead the Transportation Group and joined the company's operating committee in 2012.[14]
On May 31, 2018, Corrigan was appointed to chief executive officer.[13]
Failure Analysis Associates was founded as a partnership, incorporated in 1968 in California and reincorporated in Delaware as Failure Analysis Associates, Inc. in 1988.
In 1989, McCarthy reincorporated Failure Analysis Associates, Inc. in Delaware under a holding company, The Failure Group, Inc. and took The Failure Group, Inc. public in 1990. The company changed its name to Exponent, Inc. in 1998.[9][15]
Exponent has been involved in the investigations of many well known incidents including the now debunkedreport aired on Dateline in 1993 about fires and explosions involving sidesaddlefuel tanks onChevrolet C/Ktrucks, the disputedConsumer Reports finding onSuzuki roll-over safety,[16] the2009–2010 Toyota vehicle recalls, the crash ofAmerican Airlines Flight 587 among many other aviation accidents, and theExxon Valdezoil spill.[17] TheFederal Emergency Management Agency also hired Exponent to examine theOklahoma City bombing damage aftermath, specifically the damage to theAlfred P. Murrah Federal Building.[17]NASA hired Exponent in 1986 to determine the causes of theSpace Shuttle Challenger disaster.
In 2003, Exponent was hired by theU.S. government to investigate theSpace Shuttle Columbia disaster.[18] In 2017, Samsung hired Exponent to determine cause of thermal runaway of the Note 7 Phone batteries.[19]
Exponent hasISO 9001 accreditation, indicating independently audited and certified quality management practices. The company also is certified for battery, energy storage and compliance testing.[20]
The quality and neutrality of reports produced by the company have been called into question on various controversial topics.[citation needed] Common points of critique includecorporate denialism and that, for industrial clients, only favorable reports are seemingly produced. Examples include Exponent arguing in 2001 thatdioxins do not cause cancer.[21] These questions of conflict of interest have been disputed.[citation needed] The type of work that Exponent performs is contractually highly confidential—until their clients decide otherwise. Thus, while Exponent may issue reports that are both favorable and unfavorable to its clients, Exponent's clients have the option of releasing only the favorable reports, creating the appearance of bias.
According to theLos Angeles Times, "Exponent's research has come under fire from critics, including engineers, attorneys and academics who say the company tends to deliver to clients the reports they need to mount a public defense."[17] Exponent's executive chairman responded that such criticism is a "cheap shot", responding "Do we tell our clients a lot of what they don't want to hear? Absolutely." but that they also often come up with results not favoring their clients.[17] No concrete examples were however provided for the paper. In 2009, theAmazon Defense Coalition criticized an Exponent study commissioned by the energy companyChevron that dumping oil waste didn't cause cancer because Chevron's largest shareholder was adirector on Exponent'sboard. The firm was also criticized for assisting industry efforts to reducechromium regulation.[22]
Partial listing of notable projects:
Exponent's services are concentrated on multiple practices and centers, including:[20]
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| National | |
37°28′53.7″N122°10′25.6″W / 37.481583°N 122.173778°W /37.481583; -122.173778
