Donald Baskin, Ph.D.

Dr. Donald Baskin is the Founder and Principal Materials Engineer for Spectrum Materials Engineering LLC. Don established Spectrum to assist companies with their materials challenges throughout all phases of the product life cycle.  His clients range from large consumer products manufacturers to start-ups on the East and West Coasts. Don brings decades of experience in metallurgy and advanced materials including polymers, nanomaterials, composites, and ceramics including materials selection, sourcing, processing, validation and failure analysis.

 

Prior to founding Spectrum, Don was responsible materials engineering at multiple hardware start-ups in the Boston area.  He worked for a decade in the International Automotive Industry where he spent time at the Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) Materials Research Lab in Ulm, Germany, and in Body Engineering Release at Chrysler LLC in Auburn Hills, MI, USA. During this time, Don held positions pertaining to every aspect of automotive body structure development. This included structural optimization (lightweighting), finite element analysis, structural materials development (both metals and composites), product design release, tolerance strategy (GD&T), and manufacturing (stamping, assembly, quality, etc.).  His work helped launch 7 vehicles into series production. ​

 

Don earned a  a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of California, Irvine.   He has published several articles and later a book chapter on body structure lightweighting.