Engineering Software Research and Development, Inc. (ESRD) is a Missouri Corporation founded in 1989 by Dr. Barna Szabo, Mr. Kent Myers, and Dr. Ivo Babuska. ESRD is engaged in the development of advanced engineering software products and offers professional services in this area. ESRD's flagship software product is StressCheck, an advanced FEA tool based on the p-version finite element method.

The founders believe that the key challenge for providers of engineering software is to improve the reliability of information generated by mathematical models while substantially reducing the time required for performing computer-aided design and analysis tasks.

The principals of ESRD have been performing research and development related to p-version Finite Element Analysis for more than 20 years. Close ties to the Washington University Center for Computational Mechanics facilitates incorporation of the latest research results into ESRD's commercial software product StressCheck. As a result, StressCheck makes new p-version FEA technology available to the commercial users of finite element analysis software several years before the competition.

ESRD staff members are also involved in ongoing research projects with Washington University School of Medicine and Washington University Department of Mechanical Engineering, where StressCheck software is used in support of funded academic research, and for teaching purposes.

ESRD has undertaken numerous directed development contracts from industry OEM's to enhance StressCheck to suit specific requirements of the aerospace industry and to develop customized engineering applications that utilize the StressCheck FEA Toolkit to serve the needs of corporate design and analysis tools.