Elissa Ross is a mathematician and the CEO of Toronto-based startup Metafold 3D. Metafold makes an engineering design platform for additive manufacturing, with an emphasis on supporting engineers using metamaterials, lattices, and microstructures at industrial scales. Elissa holds a PhD in discrete geometry (2011) and worked as an industrial geometry consultant for eight years before cofounding Metafold. Metafold is the result of observations made in the consulting context about the challenges and opportunities of 3D printing. Elissa spoke at our recent virtual event focusing on Design for Medical 3D Printing.

When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing?

Elissa: My first encounter with 3D printing was printing some shapes that resulted from some mathematical research. It was interesting because they were shapes I had described in algorithms and equations but never visualized physically. I sent the files to a nearby 3D printing shop, and they printed them using FDM. The results were relatively poor, and I mostly dismissed them. 

I first engaged with 3D printing in 2014 during a mathematics research project related to architecture. Working on a problem defining three-dimensional solids algorithmically, I realized creating a physical model would be impossible with traditional media, so I turned to 3D printing. Even though the results weren’t astounding, the potential of materializing abstract mathematical concepts was compelling. This appreciation for digital manufacturing continues to inspire my work in metamaterials and additive manufacturing today.

What inspired you to start your journey?

Elissa: After my PhD in mathematics, I worked as a geometry consultant, solving complex geometry issues for engineering, architecture, and manufacturing. My co-founder Daniel and I were hired by a sportswear manufacturer aiming to employ 3D printing and lattice geometry to achieve high-performance materials for athletes. However, there was no effective software for their needs. This led us to two core concepts that inspired us to start Metafold 3D:

1. Current CAD software doesn’t work for additive manufacturing.

2. Specialized companies often need custom digital tooling for manufacturing, which usually involves a lot of geometry.

We recognized these as broader challenges in additive manufacturing, where software lags behind hardware development. We believed we had the resources to create software to address this gap. This was substantiated through numerous discussions, with a standout quote from a 3D printer manufacturer, “We can print things we can’t design.” At Metafold, we’re aiming to change that. 

Who inspired you the most along this journey in 3D printing?

Elissa: I’m motivated by our customers, who do remarkable things using 3D printing. Whether bioreactors, chromatography devices, filters, carbon capture devices, orthotics, or heat exchangers, I’ve encountered many people pushing the boundaries of manufacturing innovation using 3D printing. They are persistent because they are driven by the benefits they see in the outcome — more efficient, optimized application parts. Additionally, my co-founder Tom’s ability to effortlessly design, print, and manage the complete manufacturing process, despite its complexities, is deeply inspiring.

What motivates you the most for your work? 

Elissa: Conversations with people realizing the transformative potential of 3D printing to unlock new, better, more efficient, and more sustainable ways to manufacture things motivate me immensely. One of the critical capabilities of 3D printing is the ability to pack surface area into small volumes, usually through a triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS). These are great because they provide increased surface area, especially for biotech applications—for example, cell growth, filtration, or tissue adhesion. And I think we are only scratching the surface (pun intended!) of the possibilities of the methodology.

What is/are the biggest obstacle(s) in your line of work? If you have conquered them, what were your solutions? 

Elissa: Well, I’m four years into cofounding and being the CEO of a startup, which is all kinds of challenging! It truly makes the math PhD look like a piece of cake! Operating under an incredible amount of uncertainty is the defining feature. 

At the same time, it is fascinating. I don’t have any ‘solutions,’ but I can say that working with incredible people keeps me going every day. Building a team to work on complex problems has been amazing; it is all about those relationships.

What do you think is (are) the biggest challenge(s) in 3D Printing/bio-printing? What do you think the potential solution(s) is (are)?

Elissa:

As everyone knows, there are plenty of challenges in 3D printing and bio-printing. A focus for me, of course, is on the mathematical and geometric challenges. At Metafold we’ve seen this come in two flavours:

1. You have data, and you need shapes.
   Usually, this starts with a performance target—for example, optimized structures for the osseointegration of an orthopedic implant. Your chosen printing method imposes certain design constraints (overhangs, supports, etc.). Finally, there is some physics that you care about—mechanical loading and fluid flow for our example. The question is: What SHAPE will satisfy all these requirements (targets, constraints, physics)?
   This is not an easy problem, and the answer is geometry.
2. You have shapes, and you want data.
   The other flavour begins with geometry, and asks for insight about the shape. For example, if you hand me a CAD file, what can I tell you about it? What manufacturing process should we use to make it (this goes beyond additive)? Where are the holes? What are the notable or defining geometric features? This kind of analysis is surprisingly hard to do with classical CAD which is why we have a different approach.

​Metafold‘s delivers geometric capabilities via API to solve tough design, simulation, automation and commercialization challenges with our customers. We really focus on the ways that geometry gets in the way of engineers being innovative, and use our technology to clear the path.

If a higher being granted you three wishes, what would they be? 

Elissa: Right now, I feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. It’s not really that I want more hours, though, just that I’d somehow like the ability to slow down or stretch out time. I wish I could do that pinching motion you do on a tablet to zoom in and out, but on all of life.

I know the clever thing to do here is to ask for infinite wishes, but I’m just going to call it that one wish about time.

What advice would you give to an intelligent, driven college student in the “real world”? What bad advice have you heard that they should ignore? 

Elissa: A piece of obvious but essential advice I got when I struggled in graduate school was just: get the degree, because then you have it, and it becomes a rubber stamp for you going forward. This is especially important if you have unusual interests (I studied math and visual art). 

Beyond that, you can’t go wrong with math. It’s an incredible thing to study, and math professors are comically hopeless at knowing what you can do with a math degree. The world needs problem solvers; nothing trains you for this better than math. 

Finally, there is one piece of advice that doesn’t get talked about enough: No one in the world will have as significant an impact on your professional career as your choice of life partner (the impact on your personal life is evident). But I think this is probably impossible advice to hear when you are in your twenties. 

What to ignore? Any recommendations to FOCUS should probably be discarded. A breadth of experience leads to richer insights and the ability to make connections. I have passionately pursued interdisciplinarity and collaboration throughout my career, and it’s never steered me wrong!

What’s your favorite book you read this year and why? Alternatively, what’s your favorite book of all times you read and why?

Elissa:

This one is easy and I also love this question! I read “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage” last March, which is when winter begins to feel truly endless in Toronto. It was written by Alfred Lansing, published in 1959, and details the 1914 journey led by Sir Ernest Shackleton in an attempt to cross Antarctica. This story is absolutely wild, and beautifully written. I cannot recommend it highly enough for a few reasons:

First the project itself is so unbelievable: the spirit of exploration and inquiry that drove this voyage into the unknown and the terrible, it boggles my mind. Especially when compared with the known-ness, the stability and the comforts of my world in 2024. I recognize this is not evenly distributed, but seriously: no one lives in Antarctica. And then the details of the experience itself — what these men endured both physically and mentally is hard to fathom. Just when you think it can’t possibly get worse, it does. I mean, startups are hard, but we’ve got nothing on Shackleton.

We can be inspired though! A startup-relevant passage highlighted by Davide Marini (CEO of InkBit) was this: “From studying the outcome of past expeditions, he believed that those that burdened themselves with equipment to meet every contingency had fared much worse than those that had sacrificed total preparedness for speed.”

Related Links:

Metamaterial and 3D Printing

Interview with Jade Myers: Designing 3D Printed Prosthetic

Design for 3D Printed Medical Devices (On Demand Video)

Designing and Equipping 3D Bioprinting Facilities

Robert Pugliese: Design for Healthcare with 3DPrinting (Podcast)

Virtual Reality Software For Molecular Modeling and Structure-Based Drug Design

Evan Eckersley holds degrees in Bioengineering and Finance from Lehigh University’s IBE program with a strong focus on customer-centric design and innovation. Previously, he applied his experience in protein engineering and synthetic biology as founder and COO of Lytos Technologies. At Lytos, he led R&D and commercialization efforts of an engineered enzymatic fungicide for crop protection, biomanufacturing scale-up, fundraising, and regulation. At Icarus, he has applied his operational and biomanufacturing experience to scale Icarus’ digital and additive fabrication system to rapidly deliver highly customized devices on a mass scale while ensuring a high-quality customer experience from sales through manufacturing. He oversees company finance, marketing, regulatory, and clinical research efforts. Evan is passionate about Icarus’ mission to deliver better outcomes with functional, highly personalized devices through the combination of advanced digital and additive technologies while maximizing access to patients in need with innovative go-to-market strategies. Evan spoke at our recent event focusing on 3D printed orthotics and prosthetics.

When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing?

Evan: I first encountered 3D printing technology in a maker lab in high-school. The course was focused on innovations in biotechnology and may have set me on the course to study and pursue a career in bioengineering. I clearly didn’t understand the full implications of the technology at the time (and am still learning now). However, I understood that the technology would empower entrepreneurs and makers, providing a catalyst for innovation and invention in a broader sense. I remember envisioning a day when a 3D printer would be a common household appliance – maybe that day will come!

What inspired you to start your journey?

Evan: As an engineer, I always saw entrepreneurship as the most direct path to creating major impact. In college, I noticed that the field of bioengineering was, and still is, at the threshold of major innovations that will change the landscape in health, energy, and society as a whole. I went overboard on a capstone project to explore the current state and future of 3D bioprinting where possibilities like synthetic organs, lab-on-a-chip applications, and the ability of producing bespoke devices instantly at scale were coming into view. Less than 10 years later, these innovations have come to life ( e.g. the recent successful transplant of a 3D printed trachea). I am excited and honored to be pushing the boundaries of industrial printing in the orthopedics space with our technology at Icarus. 

Who inspired you the most along this journey in 3D printing ?

Evan: Professor Pat Costa was an unconventional and inspiring mentor of mine from my entrepreneurship program in College. He wasn’t an academic but rather a self-made business owner that carved his own path. We spent many late nights in the printing lab developing prototypes for a local medical device company – and he ultimately inspired me to start my first business out of college instead of pursuing a graduate degree. I also have to give a shoutout to Dave, our CEO and founder at Icarus, who convinced me to make the jump from the world of synthetic biology to the world of medical devices. We have already pushed the boundaries of digital automation and 3D printing of custom devices at scale – and it feels like we’re just getting started. 

What motivates you the most for your work? 

Evan: Impact. 

What is/are the biggest obstacle(s) in your line of work? If you have conquered them, what were your solutions? 

Evan: In addition to the challenges facing any startup, Icarus has challenges that may be unique to our business model. We are vertically integrated, having a direct sales force, engineering team, and managing 100% of our manufacturing locally in Charlottesville. With the uncertainty and lean conditions of a startup bringing a new technology to market, it is a constant challenge to balance the workings of every department to scale together and at a fast-pace (nearly doubling annually). Throw in the challenges of delivering custom devices with leading patient outcomes within one week to anywhere in the country while meeting the high standards of orthopedic practices. On top of that, we are fundamentally changing the habits in an industry that has not changed in decades. 

One solution to many of these challenges is in the digital approach. We have developed automation software that reduces custom design time from 8 hours to 5 minutes. We have created systems, including a custom ERP, to automate workflows, streamline communications, and provide data to make better business decisions quickly. We also constantly collect data from our customers and our team to operate a continuous feedback loop that improves our performance across the board. This has been the key to our ability to scale a relatively complex business process.  

What do you think is (are) the biggest challenge(s) in 3D Printing? What do you think the potential solution(s) is (are)?

Evan: Challenges specific to our industry are the cost and strength of the materials. In dealing with orthotic devices, you are competing against traditionally manufactured devices that are assembled at massive scales overseas and from durable materials, such as metal or carbon fiber. We have been able to compete in certain niches by differentiating our product, offering substantially improved outcomes through the unique functionality of our device, and leveraging software to automate the design and manufacturing process. As technology advances and as competitors enter the industrial 3D printing space, the hope is that the baseline costs of industrial printing will come down in the future. Until then, it is important to position our products based on value and service rather than price. 

If you are granted three wishes by a higher being, what would they be? 

Evan: One could wish that our company was instantly successful or that all of society’s problems could be solved. However, the real value is in the climb to achieve that success and the lessons gained along the way. 

What advice would you give to a smart driven college student in the “real world”? What bad advices you heard should they ignore? 

Evan: This world has no shortage of problems to be solved. If you truly want to have an impact, invest in yourself early and often. It is easier to take a risk earlier in life, learn and keep moving forward. You will inevitably encounter real failure if you seek to find and break your own limits, and that failure can sting a lot more than those you may experience in college. However, the battle scars you gain along the way by challenging yourself to “do the impossible” might give you the opportunity do something truly important in the lives of others – to have a real impact. There, you can find real fulfillment. 

What’s your favorite book you read this year and why? Alternatively, what’s your favorite book of all times you read and why?

Evan: The Hard thing about Hard things by Ben Horowitz was a good recent read. It provides a real glimpse into the highs and lows of growing a business: and the moments that decide whether a business will succeed in the face of great adversity. 

Related Links:

Interview with Melanie Shelton: 3D printing adoption in O&P
Biomaterials for 3D Printing Bioprinting (On Demand, 2024)

3D Printing for O&P (On Demand 2023)

Interview with Brent Wright: 3D Printed Orthotics and Prosthetics
Interview with Chris Baschuk: Partial Hand Prosthetics

Melanie Shelton has nearly two decades of experience in the O&P industry. Her expertise spans from establishing and overseeing distributorships for orthotic fabrication equipment across Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, to account management, Crisis Communications, Marketing and clinical support. In her previous role at HP, she spearheaded the development and adoption of the Arize Orthotic Solution for four years, demonstrating her commitment to innovation and digital workflow automation. She is currently leading HP’s efforts to advance 3D printing adoption and manufacturing efficiency in the O&P Industry. Her depth of experience and record of success in technological advancement in the O&P arena point to her commitment to help drive the industry forward. Melanie will be a speaker at our upcoming virtual event focusing on 3D printing in o&P.

When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing?

Melanie: About 8 years ago I left the O&P industry. At the time I felt that innovation in the industry was stalling – at this time 3D printing wasn’t even a consideration – and I was concerned that my career would stall out a bit too. I consulted for a good friend who was building her communication firm and did some other marketing projects.  A few years later a doctor friend called me and let me know he was working on a project with HP in their 3D printing organization and he thought I would be a good fit for the job. I met with the lead product manager who talked about all of the ways that HP was being used in the O&P market and the project they were currently working on. I found it so exciting! I felt that it was finally the innovation needed to move O&P forward to the digital era. 

What inspired you to start your journey?

 Melanie: As I stated above, I was lucky that it fell into my lap, but I was familiar with 3D printing in general. What I find fascinating in retrospective is how little I understood about the various methods of 3D printing. Like many people not familiar with the industry, we tend to believe that 3D printing is one defined way of printing, when there is a vast array of products, all with different strengths in varying applications. 

Who inspired you the most along this journey?

Melanie: I have a wonderful friend and mentor, Jason Kraus, who has been in the foot orthotic business for practically all of his career – well over 40 years. I asked him to consult for our orthotic project because I needed someone with a deep understanding off all the various facets of traditional manufacturing that we needed to consider and build into our digital workflow.  What I greatly appreciated about that experience was his dedicated focus on the customer’s needs. He didn’t get too swayed by the shiny bauble of 3D printing, but kept our team very grounded in understanding the customer at that moment, their need at that moment, and staunchly defending that from our “big ideas”. Not that he was against innovation, but we had to have a strong understanding of every single stakeholder and every single step to understand where and how we could change processes to a digital workflow that would make the customer’s and patients experience better, not just different. 

What motivates you the most for your work? 

Melanie: There is nothing more exciting than talking to practitioners and designers in this industry that are passionate about what they do! At the end of the day, we all want to make patient’s lives better and you can feel that energy when talking with them. I get opportunities to help them with a process, an idea, or just sit there and learn about what they are doing. The fact that I get to do this every day, and there are still so many more people to meet and be inspired by, that’s what gets me motivated.  

What is/are the biggest obstacle(s) in your line of work? If you have conquered them, what were your solutions? 

Melanie: At HP with my role specifically, it’s about adoption. An HP MJF printer is really just one part of many decisions that a company needs to make as they are transitioning or adopting 3D printing. To help costumers understand what their journey is, how to navigate it, and to understand when and how they can leverage HP’s MJF printers is a huge challenge. We are trying to better understand the customer journey to help guide them, but at the end of the day the decisions about how they want to incorporate software and digital workflows is completely out of our hands but can have a big impact on if/when and how they use HP MJF printers. 

What do you think is (are) the biggest challenge(s) in 3D Printing? What do you think the potential solution(s) is (are)?

Melanie: I think it goes back to users understanding the different capabilities of various 3D printing technologies so they can make informed decisions about what best to adopt for their needs. I would love to say it should always be HP’s MJF, but of course that is not true. 

If you are granted three wishes by a higher being, what would they be? 

Melanie: I would revamp the entire CMS HCPC coding system. It would probably take all three wishes to make it happen. It’s such a mess!

What advice would you give to a smart driven college student in the “real world”? What bad advices you heard should they ignore?

Melanie: A very easy, practical tip is that if you are ever in a discussion where you don’t agree with someone’s assessment/plan/idea, the first thing you do is ask the question “Why?”. Don’t say or imply you disagree immediately, but just try to understand what informed their decision or opinion. You will sound so much more informed, thoughtful, and you will have a better time getting them to hear your disagreement because you gave them the opportunity to be heard first. It took me way too long in my career to learn this!

This is so old school, but I remember a former sales manager telling me to never apologize because it makes you look weak. That’s the worst advice! 

What’s your favorite book you read this year and why? Alternatively, what’s your favorite book of all times you read and why?

Melanie: One of my favorite professional development books I read this year is Crucial Conversations. It does a great job framing the ingredients for very combative, high-stakes situations, the science behind what happens when we “lose it,” and how to stay focused and deliberate to reach a resolution. I took away a few good tips from this book. 

My all-time favorite is Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. It’s an absolutely beautifully written book. It subverts the idea of the traditional cowboy with swagger and confidence. They do have that, but they also struggle with themes of morality, purpose and the necessity of violence. The women are fascinating and well-developed, not just love interests but there to hold their place firmly alongside the men’s stories. It’s well-paced, and easy to get lost in. I recommend it to everyone, and no one has been disappointed about it yet. 

Related Links:

How AI and 3D Printing Enhance Crafting Custom Orthotics and Prosthetics

3D Printed Orthotics and Prosthetics (On Demand, 2021)

Biomaterials for 3D Printing Bioprinting (On Demand, 2024)

3D Printing for O&P (On Demand 2023)

Interview with Brent Wright: 3D Printed Orthotics and Prosthetics
Interview with Chris Baschuk: Partial Hand Prosthetics