Science and Engineering in Industry: "The Anduril Way"

Abstract 

An overview of Anduril Industries—how it is organized and how it designs, builds, and fields autonomous and weapons systems on commercial timelines—followed by a deeper dive into the Lethality Modeling and Simulation department: its role in warhead and missile/ordnance development from concept through production, the modeling and simulation workflow behind it, and the preparation it seeks in new engineers.

About the Speaker 

Dr. Todd retired from the U.S. Navy in February 2001 as a Master Chief Petty Officer after 21 years of service, 19 of them as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD)Technician. He served as an EOD operator, as an instructor at Naval School EOD and the U.K.’s Defence EOD School, and as a Command Master Chief. Seven of those years, across two tours, were at Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG) as an EOD operator/assaulter, team leader, division senior enlisted leader, and technical manager of its EOD RDT&E programs. He earned a B.S. in Mathematics while on active duty.

Joining Sandia National Laboratories in 2001, Dr. Todd completed an M.S. in engineering mechanics with an explosive engineering focus and a Ph.D. in materials engineering. Over 20 years he led research in energetic materials, shock and detonation physics, and dynamic material failure, developing the Damage- Initiated Reaction (DMGIR) model in Sandia’s CTH shock physics code, which correctly predicted 15 of 16 large-scale integrated tests. He also led development of a family of modular explosive charges for DoD and federal/local EOD and breacher operators, whose tailored geometries and wave shaping cut net explosive weight and time-on-target by 30% or more; one of them, the Stingray water-blade disruptor, was named to TIME’s “50 Best Inventions of 2010.” He holds five U.S. patents, created nine technical advances, authored or co-authored more than a dozen peer-reviewed papers, and retired from Sandia in 2021 as a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff. 

From 2021 to 2025, he consulted for the DOE/NNSA Nuclear Threat Sciences and

Nuclear Incident Response programs, standing up and leading the NNSA NEST Reserve Corps and teaching graduate-level courses on energetic materials and shock and detonation physics to national laboratory and allied special operations audiences. In 2025 he joined Anduril Industries as Principal Warhead Engineer and Manager of the Lethality Modeling and Simulation department. He has worked with energetic materials since 1982—over four decades spent rendering complex devices safe and gaining access under extremely difficult conditions.

Host: Professor Nick Glumac