About Us

The Handheld Laser Institute was founded by Rex Alexandre in early 2024 and is focused on accelerating the industrial adoption of handheld laser welding by providing education, training, and cutting-edge research based on real-world welding applications. Engineering and educational services can be provided at our world class lab in the greater Seattle area, or directly at customer’s facilities across North America.

Rex’s Bio:
Rex Alexandre graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Welding Engineering in 2016, and has spent most of his career developing laser welding, cladding, cutting, and additive manufacturing processes for the aerospace industry. His first introduction to handheld laser welding was in 2020, while working as a Senior Welding Engineer on SpaceX’s Starship program. What started as a personal curiosity and side project quickly grew to be an industry-leading handheld laser welding program used to manufacture the world’s largest and most powerful space launch vehicle. Rex is passionate about advancing the industrial adoption of handheld laser welding and currently sits on multiple AWS subcommittees in addition to being the President and Principal Engineer of the Handheld Laser Institute.