Allison Lyle is a practicing engineer and instructor who concentrates on applying and elevating systems thinking to domains where physical, ecological, and social systems intersect. She works with teams in the aerospace, defense, medical, sustainability, and agricultural industries to pragmatically apply Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) processes and tools to advance product and system development.
Natural systems inspire Allison to understand how we can apply ecological and biomimicry design principles to human-engineered systems for improved efficacy, integration, and long-term resilience.
Allison has led the development effort for multiple medical device systems spanning the complete product development cycle, from stakeholder analyses to technical feasibility assessments, requirements definition, design, verification and validation testing, regulatory submissions, manufacturing, and commercialization.
She has held R&D and technical leadership positions at companies ranging from early-stage start-ups to large corporations, including JustRight Surgical (now Hologic), Covidien (now Medtronic), Aspero Medical, and her own engineering consulting company, Next Bend, LLC. Her work in the medical device space has focused on endoscopic and laparoscopic surgical instruments, including RF vessel sealing systems, surgical staplers, and diagnostic tools for gastrointestinal care. She holds several patents for surgical instrumentation and endoscopic tools.
Allison holds an MS and BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado and a BA in Communications from the University of Iowa.