Affiliated Assistant Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
Multiplanetary Innovation Enterprise (MINE) Faculty Advisor





PhD, Engineering Systems, Colorado School of Mines
MS, Engineering Systems, Colorado School of Mines
MS, Civil Engineering (Structural / Building Engineering), TU-Delft



Biography
Dr. van Susante grew up in The Netherlands and received a Master of Science from Delft University of Technology in 2001 in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on Building Engineering. He then went to the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) to participate in NASA research and received a Master of Science in Engineering Systems from CSM in 2004, followed by a Ph.D. in Engineering Systems from CSM in 2011. Dr. van Susante taught Freshman, Sophomore, and Senior Design as well as Mechanics of Materials for five years at CSM before coming to Michigan Technological University in 2012. He was a NASA Faculty Fellow in 2010 and consulted for a variety of companies on SBIR or STTR projects, such as the University of Arizona, Sysrand Corporation, Energid, HoneyBee Robotics, and others. He has been involved in research projects for many customers, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, TransAstra, DARPA, NASA KSC, JPL, Bechtel, Caterpillar, NCHRP, NSF and others.
Dr. van Susante is the PI of the Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab (PSTDL).



Teaching Interests

Engineering Design Process
Mechanics of Materials
System Engineering
Mechanical Engineering Practice
Finite Element Analysis
Intro to Aerospace Engineering
Space System Engineering
Space Resource Utilization
Senior Design Capstone / Enterprise Project
Product Realization

Areas of Expertise

Solid Mechanics
Structural Design
Finite Element Analysis
Engineering Design Process
System Engineering
Interdisciplinary Engineering (Aerospace, Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, Mining, Architecture)
Extreme Environment Design
Civil and Mining Engineering
Education
Optimization and Modeling



Research Interests

Extreme Environment Technologies (Space, Underwater, Mining, Arctic, etc.)
Excavation and Mining Technology
Planetary Science and Exploration
In-Situ Resource Utilization
Space Mining and Construction
Design Optimization
Robotics and Automation
Sys