Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, 2021
  • B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Rice University, 2013
Academic Appointments
  • Graduate Research Assistant, J. Mike Walker Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 2017-2022
  • Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Texas at Austin, 2017-2020
Professional Honors
  • Graduate Teaching Fellow at University of Texas at Austin
  • Virginia and Ernest Cockrell, Jr. Fellowship
  • Rice Scholar-Athlete Award
Professional Affiliations
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

Dr. Wiest specializes in utilizing statistical methods, modeling, and decision analysis to improve the functionality and efficiency of engineered systems. His technical expertise has been applied to mechanical and procedural failure analysis, industrial risk management, design and manufacturing of advanced materials, vibration analysis, optimization of finite element analysis studies, and computer vision. 

Dr. Wiest has experience with a broad range of industries and technologies that allow him to swiftly deploy his technical abilities to address many different challenges. The majority of his work has been applied to petroleum processing facilities, additive and conventional manufacturing, consumer product design, and underwater acoustics. Dr. Wiest supports technical investigations in the industries listed above among others.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Wiest completed his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. During this time, he also held a complementary appointment as a Graduate Research Assistant at Applied Research Laboratories. His research focused on developing design automation and optimization methods for acoustic metamaterials with many features and sensitive response behavior. As part of his work on directionally asymmetric acoustic metamaterials, he designed for — and built parts with — multiple additive manufacturing methods. In particular, he is experienced with powder bed fusion, fused deposition modeling, and stereolithography. 

Before beginning graduate studies, Dr. Wiest worked as a production and facilities engineer for an independent petroleum exploration and production company. He optimized field wide production and led the redesign and upgrade of multiple oil stabilization facilities during this time. Dr. Wiest is trained in OSHA's Process Safety Management program and has experience with a wide variety of process equipment. A significant portion of his work included developing methods to utilize large volumes of data with geospatial and temporal features. Most notably, he built and distributed process surveillance and visualization dashboards to help other engineers manage their assets. This experience motivated him to pursue a graduate degree and improve his skills as a modeler and data scientist.