About
My name is Adam Libert and I’ve been an engineer from my earliest years – that’s me below, crouching, with my hand on the launch controller at the age of 6. This photo captures the first test of a complicated homemade multiple-stage rocket that I designed and built from scratch. It was a miserable failure that nearly took out the neighbor’s window, and one that taught me: the best systems are simple ones. Since then, I have made it my profession to identify simple and elegant solutions to complex problems.
My focus on machine design in both my UPenn Bachelor’s and MIT Master’s degree programs has equipped me with a powerful quiver of mechanical, electrical, software, and controls tools to evaluate problems and determine the best path forward for success. In my five years at SpaceX, I have leveraged these tools and successfully integrated them as the Responsible Engineer and Lead Engineer for numerous hydraulic, pneumatic, and electromechanical actuation systems. My greatest successes have always been from simplification of any hardware, software, or operations. Still, complex problems sometimes require complex solutions – and I have found that a well-concerted multi-disciplinary approach spanning across teams is often critical to system success in these cases. I have experience in both engineering these myself and leading diverse engineering teams to success when faced with such problems. I find it most fulfilling to provide guidance and help small teams achieve success in their audacious goals to achieve new feats, and I intend to support passionate mission-driven companies in their efforts.
Outside of engineering, I love photography, and am an avid rock and ice climber, skier, mountaineer, sailor, free diver, and scuba diver. Not only are these sports immensely fun, but they’re also incredibly interesting from an engineering and physics perspective. My engineering background helps me to be better at these sports and to appreciate their natural beauty. In addition, I try to be as engaged and involved in my community as possible, so I led the recruitment effort of the Graduate Association of Mechanical Engineers at MIT, and have been heavily involved in the SpaceX recruiting effort as well. At SpaceX, I created a group to bring people together to improve information exchange on best practices and lessons learned regarding motor and electromechanical actuator design, which has proven to be both fun and educational.
