Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 2018
  • M.S., Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 2014
  • B.Eng., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2012
Professional Affiliations
  • American Institute of Chemical Engineers—AIChE (Member)
  • National Association of Fire Investigators—NAFI (Member)
  • National Fire Protection Association—NFPA (Member)

Dr. Watson is a chemical engineer in Exponent's Thermal Sciences Practice consulting primarily in the areas of oil and gas processing, process safety and risk analysis, and advanced thermal fluid analysis. He specializes process modeling, simulation, and optimization of chemical engineering systems. 

During his time at Exponent, Dr. Watson has performed dynamic simulations of refinery distillation units and heat exchangers, used multivariate statistical analysis techniques to identify potential foaming precursors in separation systems, and built hydrodynamic models of floating structures for use in large-scale computational fluid dynamics simulations. He has extensive experience modeling heat transfer and phase changes in industrial processes, including cryogenic processes such as mixed-refrigerant liquefaction and air separation, and in the implementation of many state-of-the-art numerical methods for sensitivity analysis, equation solving, and local and global optimization.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Watson performed his Ph.D. research at MIT, which focused on the development of robust models and flowsheeting methods for natural gas liquefaction processes using cutting-edge numerical analysis techniques. Within this area, he made significant advances in reliable methods for modeling phase regime transitions in process equipment, calculating fluid properties from equations of state, and enforcing feasible heat transfer in multistream heat exchangers.