Janet M. Sater is an American mechanical engineer at the Institute for Defense Analyses, where her research has involved advanced composite materials, smart structures, exoskeletons, and biomimetics.
[1] Sater is the daughter of an electrical engineer, and went into college intending to study marine biology.
Instead she shifted to engineering, specializing in metallurgy, after discovering an affinity with working with her hands and eyes.
She went to Purdue University for graduate study, focusing on work with aluminum.
[1] In 2022, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers gave her their Dedicated Service Award.