Our Story
Under the supervision of Professor Steven Nutt, Director of the M.C. Gill Composites Center at the University of Southern California, an extensive team of undergraduate students, doctoral students, and post-doctoral researchers spent nearly a decade developing and demonstrating the effectiveness of through-thickness permeable prepreg formats for robust, VBO composites processing. Such prepregs and the processes by which they can be fabricated were the subjects of several peer-reviewed journal publications and many more technical conference proceedings, all of which demonstrated that the approach adopted by Apogee offers clear benefits over traditional prepreg formats.
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Successes in the lab demanded efforts to begin commercializing Apogee's approach to prepreg, and Apogee Composites was founded in 2019, shortly after doctoral students Bill Edwards, Mark Anders, and David Bender won First Prize at the USC Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition.
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In 2021, Apogee received a strategic equity investment to open a pilot manufacturing facility and subsequent expansion.​ Led by Bill Edwards, Apogee opened their first manufacturing site in Los Angeles, CA in the Fall of 2024 where they produce woven prepregs and adhesive films, along with providing toll prepreg services and research & development services.
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What Makes Us Different
Apogee prepregs are engineered to have through-thickness gas permeability orders of magnitude higher than competing out-of-autoclave prepregs. This through-thickness permeability facilitates and expedites removal of entrapped gasses during de-bulking and processing, resulting in composite structures that reliably pass quality inspection even when processed in the absence of the compaction pressure provided by an autoclave.
Our innovation does not rely on unique resin chemistry or selection of a fiber system or sizing. Instead, it can be applied to any material system that is found in conventional prepregs. Customers who adopt Apogee prepregs will immediately see improved part cycle times due to reduced debulking periods enabled by more efficient gas evacuation.
The Benefits
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Our unique product will make it easier, faster, and less expensive to produce high-quality composite structures. Using our VBO prepreg, composite structure manufacturers can expand production capacity by purchasing ovens at 10-15% the cost of comparable autoclaves, unlocking significant savings in capital equipment investment. ​
Further, the patented format of Apogee prepregs uniquely enables a variety of applications of prepreg for which conventional formats are fundamentally unsuitable such as in-field repair of composite aircraft.
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By combining Apogee’s prepreg format with Apogee’s patent-pending cure process, Apogee’s technology also enables use of a wider variety of resin formulations that cannot traditionally be used in out-of-autoclave manufacturing scenarios.
Meet the Team
Bill Edwards
CEO, CTO, & Founder
Dr. Bill Edwards is an alumnus of the M.C. Gill Composites Center at the University of Southern California and Founder of Apogee Composites. His doctoral research focused on developing a fundamental understanding of design, production, and processing of through-thickness permeable prepregs. Edwards produced the first embodiments of a robust unidirectional prepreg, generating data indicating the efficacy of discontinuous resin distributions. He conceived of several of the prepregging methods to be exploited for scalable production of through-thickness permeable prepreg, and his work has led to identification of process phenomena and defect formation mechanisms that have been leveraged to inform the design of next-generation prepregs. Edwards has further experience successfully qualifying new materials for insertion on commercial aircraft. He managed technical communication between material suppliers and aircraft assemblers, developing and winning approval for test protocols used in lot acceptance testing.
Dr. Bill Edwards is an alumnus of the M.C. Gill Composites Center at the University of Southern California and Founder of Apogee Composites. His doctoral research focused on developing a fundamental understanding of design, production, and processing of through-thickness permeable prepregs.
Edwards produced the first embodiments of a robust unidirectional prepreg, generating data indicating the efficacy of discontinuous resin distributions. He conceived of several of the prepregging methods to be exploited for scalable production of through-thickness permeable prepreg, and his work has led to identification of process phenomena and defect formation mechanisms that have been leveraged to inform the design of next-generation prepregs.
Edwards has further experience successfully qualifying new materials for insertion on commercial aircraft. He managed technical communication between material suppliers and aircraft assemblers, developing and winning approval for test protocols used in lot acceptance testing.
Professor Steve Nutt
Researcher Supervisor & Consultant
Professor Steve Nutt leads a group of students and personnel devoted to understanding and developing processes for composites manufacturing. He is the founding director of USC’s M.C. Gill Composites Center. The scope of his research emphasizes defect control in prepregs and liquid molding processes for aerospace composites. He joined the faculty at USC in 1994 after spending 8 years on the faculty at Brown University. Prof. Nutt is an Associate Editor of the journal Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, a member of the SAMPE (Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering) Board of Directors, and has published >250 manuscripts in academic journals.
Professor Steve Nutt leads a group of students and personnel devoted to understanding and developing processes for composites manufacturing. He is the founding director of USC’s M.C. Gill Composites Center.
The scope of his research emphasizes defect control in prepregs and liquid molding processes for aerospace composites. He joined the faculty at USC in 1994 after spending 8 years on the faculty at Brown University.
Prof. Nutt is an Associate Editor of the journal Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, a member of the SAMPE (Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering) Board of Directors, and has published >250 manuscripts in academic journals.
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Mike Richardson
CFO & COO
Mike Richardson serves as the CFO/COO of Apogee Composites. Mike earned his degree in economics from University of California, Los Angeles. Mike has professional experience in accounting, auto lending, commercial banking, asset securitization, and second mortgage lending. Mike also is involved in commercial real estate as a private investor. Through his experience in finance and operations, he is excited to be a part of Apogee Composites’ business growth and development.
Mike Richardson serves as the CFO/COO of Apogee Composites. Mike earned his degree in economics from University of California, Los Angeles.
Mike has professional experience in accounting, auto lending, commercial banking, asset securitization, and second mortgage lending. Mike also is involved in commercial real estate as a private investor.
Through his experience in finance and operations, he is excited to be a part of Apogee Composites’ business growth and development.
Natalie Richardson
VP
Natalie Richardson comes from a creative background and received her BFA from PACE University in New York City. She has had a multi-faceted career in various industries, from the entertainment industry, event management, and now composites. Natalie specializes in project management, creative direction, talent acquisition, and system workflow optimization.
Natalie Richardson comes from a creative background and received her BFA from PACE University in New York City. She has had a multi-faceted career in various industries, from the entertainment industry, event management, and now composites. Natalie specializes in project management, creative direction, talent acquisition, and system workflow optimization.
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Work With Us
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We would love to work directly you to develop unique prepreg materials and formats tailored to fit your individual needs.
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Apogee is continuously developing new technologies related to prepreg format, prepreg processing, and composites manufacturing to staying on the leading edge of innovations in the composites industry.