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Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems (2011)

Chapter: Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2011. Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13144.
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C
Biographies of Committee Members

George K. Muellner, Chair, is the retired president, Advanced Systems for Integrated Defense Systems of the Boeing Company. He was responsible for all advanced development programs before the initiation of production. Prior to holding that position he was responsible for all programs that the company conducted for the U.S. Air Force or international air force customers. Prior to this assignment, Mr. Muellner was the president of Phantom Works, Boeing’s advanced research and development unit, dedicated to improving the quality, performance, and affordability of Boeing products and services through technology development, process improvement, and new product development. He also served as a lieutenant general in the U.S. Air Force. He was the principal deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition. He provided direction, guidance and formulation, review, and approval and execution of plans, policies, and programs relative to acquisition. He was also designated as the Air Force chief information officer. He had previously served as the initial program executive officer for the Joint Advanced Strike Technology Program (now designated the Joint Strike Fighter Program). He is a fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a past president and fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.


Daniel G. Backman joined the Mechanical Engineering Department of Worcester Polytechnic Institute as a research professor following a 26-year career with GE Aircraft Engines. Dr. Backman received his SB, SM, and ScD degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He went on to hold an assistant professor-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2011. Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13144.
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ship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and then joined GE, where he provided materials application engineering support and carried out research on aerospace materials and processes. More recently, he contributed to the development of the disk alloy for the NASA High Speed Civil Transport and led the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)-sponsored Accelerated Insertion of Materials initiative at GE. Much of Dr. Backman’s work has focused on mathematical modeling of material processes and the development and implementation of intelligent processing of materials methods for aircraft engine materials. At the time of his retirement from GE, Dr. Backman was the organizational leader of the Materials Modeling and Simulation section. He has served on a number of national technical committees and a corporate board and has three patents on aerospace materials. Dr. Backman served as a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on Integrated Computational Materials Engineering.


Charles E. Browning is the Torley Chair in Composite Materials at the Chemical and Materials Engineering Department at the University of Dayton. He received his BS in chemistry from West Virginia University, his MS in chemistry from Wright State University, and his PhD in materials engineering from the University of Dayton. Before joining the faculty at the University of Dayton, he had been the director of the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory. Dr. Browning was responsible for the planning and execution of the Air Force’s advanced materials, processes, and manufacturing and environmental technology programs to support all elements of Air Force acquisition and sustainment. He was also responsible for interfacing these specific areas throughout the corporate Air Force and Department of Defense. At the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate he headed an organization of approximately 530 government employees, with a yearly budget of nearly $400 million. Dr. Browning began his career with the Air Force in 1966 and has held various senior technical and management positions within the laboratories. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 1998. He has received numerous awards, including the Outstanding Engineer and Scientist Award from the Affiliates Society Council of Dayton, the Materials Laboratory Cleary Award for Scientific Advancement, the Materials Laboratory Schwartz Award for Engineering Excellence, the Materials Directorate Management Excellence Award, and the 2002 Meritorious Executive Presidential Rank Award. He is a member of the American Chemical Society and the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering.


William G. Fahrenholtz is a professor of ceramic engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly the University of Missouri-Rolla). He earned BS and MS degrees in ceramic engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2011. Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13144.
×

in 1987 and 1989, respectively. He completed his PhD in chemical engineering at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in 1992. From 1993 to 1999, Dr. F ahrenholtz was a research assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering at UNM. In 1999, he took a job as an assistant professor at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2005 and to full professor in 2008. He has received several awards, including six campus-wide faculty excellence awards, two teaching awards, and a prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. He was elected a fellow of the American Ceramic Society in 2007. Dr. Fahrenholtz teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on thermodynamics as well as a laboratory class on ceramic processing. His research focuses on the processing and characterization of ceramics and ceramic-metal composites. He has current projects related to ultrahigh-temperature ceramics as well as the use of cerium oxide coatings for the corrosion protection of high strength aluminum alloys. He has published more than 60 papers in peer-reviewed journals and given more than 20 invited presentations on his research.


Wesley L. Harris is the Charles Stark Draper Professor and head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research focuses on theoretical and experimental unsteady aerodynamics and aeroacoustics, computational fluid dynamics, and the government policy impact on procurement of high-technology systems. Prior to this position, he served as the associate administrator for aeronautics at NASA. He has also served as the vice president and chief administrative officer of the University of Tennessee Space Institute. Dr. Harris has served on committees of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Helicopter Society (AHS), and the National Technical Association, and as adviser to eight colleges, universities, and institutes. Dr. Harris earned a BS in aerospace engineering from the University of Virginia and an MS and a PhD in aerospace and mechanical sciences from Princeton University. He was elected a fellow of the AIAA and of the AHS for personal engineering achievements, engineering education, management, and advancing cultural diversity. Dr. Harris has served as chair and member of various boards and committees of the National Research Council (NRC), the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Army Science Board, and several state governments. He is a current member of the NRC’s Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences Committee, the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges for Engineering Committee, and the Committee on Engineering Education, and he served as chair of the Committee on Assessing Corrosion Education.


S. Michael Hudson was vice chair, Rolls-Royce North America Holdings, before his retirement. He led an investment group in the purchase of Detroit Edison’s

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2011. Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13144.
×

distributed generation business in Anderson, Indiana, in 2005 and serves as chair of I Power, the company formed from that acquisition. He also held the position of president, chief executive officer of Rolls-Royce Allison following its acquisition by Rolls-Royce in 1995. He served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer at various times during this period. Following his graduation from the University of Texas with a BS degree in mechanical engineering, Mr. Hudson was employed by Pratt and Whitney Aircraft from 1962 to 1968. He was one of two managers who, with Clayton Dubilier, acquired Allison Gas Turbine from General Motors Corporation. He has served on the management boards of several joint-venture companies in which Rolls-Royce Allison has had interest.

He is a member of the board of directors of the Indianapolis Water Company. He is a fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Royal Aeronautical Society, an honorary fellow of the American Helicopter Society (AHS), and an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). In professional society work, Mr. Hudson has been a member of the AIAA Propulsion Committee and the AHS Propulsion Committee and has been chair of the AHS board of directors. Mr. Hudson has been a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Manufacturers and of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and has served as chair of the SAE’s Aerospace Council and been on its Aerospace Program Office Committee and its Finance Committee. He has received the SAE Franklin W. Kolk Air Transportation Progress Award and the Royal Aeronautical Society British Gold Medal and has been associated with five Collier Trophy-winning programs. He has served on the Aerospace Industries Association Technical Council and chaired its Civil Aviation Division. Mr. Hudson’s publications range from technical work on propulsion to defense procurement and business initiatives. He has served on Air Force and Department of Defense review groups, including ad hoc committees to the Science Advisory Board, the Defense Science Board Task Force on Commercial Procurement, and the Industry Review Group of the Integrated High Performance Turbine Engine Technology Initiative.

For NASA, Mr. Hudson was a member of the Aeronautics Advisory Committee and the Subcommittee on Rotorcraft Technology, and he chaired the Propulsion Aeronautics Research and Technology Subcommittee. He also served on the National Research Council Committee on Strategic Assessment of the U.S. Aeronautics Program, the Committee on Aeronautics Research and Technology for Environmental Compatibility, the Committee on Engine Efficiency for USAF Non-fighter Aircraft, the Committee on Aeronautics Research and Technology for Vision 2050, and the Committee on NASA’s Revolutionize Aviation Strategic Plan, and he has been a member of the National Research Council’s Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board. Mr. Hudson is on various local university and civic boards and has chaired or been a member of charitable fund-raising activities. He has served as a visiting professor at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2011. Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13144.
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and is a member of the board of trustees of Marian College, the Purdue University Discovery Park Advisory Board, and the Richard G. Lugar Center for Renewable Energy Advisory Board.


Sylvia M. Johnson serves as the chief materials technologist, Entry Systems and Technology Division, at the NASA Ames Research Center. From 2000 to 2009, she was chief of the Thermal Protection Materials and System Branch of the NASA Ames Research Center. Prior to that, Dr. Johnson was the director of Ceramic and Chemical Product Development at SRI International. She joined SRI after receiving her PhD in materials science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1983. Dr. Johnson’s research efforts have involved the synthesis of oxide and non-oxide ceramic powders; the processing, characterization, and evaluation of structural ceramics, especially silicon nitride; and methods for joining ceramics. Most recently, she has worked on ultrahigh-temperature ceramics and on ablative materials and coatings, both for thermal protection systems. A fellow of the American Ceramic Society since 1992, Dr. Johnson served as its vice president in 1996-1997 and as an elected board member from 2002 to 2005. In addition to holding many committee assignments, she has been counselor of the Northern California section since 1988 and has chaired five Pacific Coast Regional Meetings. She was chair of PACRIM5, an international conference held in 2005. She is currently the American Ceramic Society representative to the International Ceramic Federation. From 1997 to 2002, Dr. Johnson served on the National Materials Advisory Board (NMAB). During that time, she chaired two NMAB materials forums, was chair of the NMAB Workshop on Education and the Workforce in Materials Science and Engineering, and participated in a number of materials studies. She most recently served on the Committee on Assessing Corrosion Education (ACE). She has served on the National Institute of Standards and Technology Materials Evaluation Board and on the organizing committee of the National Space and Missile Materials Symposium, and she currently serves on the Evaluation Board for Materials Science and Technology at the Sandia National Laboratories and the Advisory Board for Ceramic Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology. She is a National Associate of the National Research Council. Dr. Johnson has published approximately 50 papers, edited 2 books, and received 5 U.S. patents.


William L. Johnson is the Ruben and Donna Mettler Professor of Materials Science at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), having joined the Caltech faculty in 1977. He received his BA in physics from Hamilton College and his PhD in applied physics from Caltech. He spent 2 years at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center (1975-1977) prior to joining the faculty at Caltech. Dr. Johnson’s research interests are centered on non-equilibrium thermodynamic systems. In the mid-1980s, he, along with Ricardo Schwarz, discovered solid-state amorphization,

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2011. Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13144.
×

leading to many years of fruitful research. His research accomplishments include the first studies of superconductivity in metallic glasses, pioneering studies of crystal-to-glass transformations. This work was followed by the synthesis of nano-crystalline and amorphous materials by high-energy ball milling, and, in 1993, the discovery of bulk metallic glasses (BMG). Dr. Johnson pioneered the discovery, characterization, and science of BMG forming alloys and their use as engineering materials. His recent work has involved the development of a theory that establishes fundamental physical principles governing flow in amorphous materials. His research has led to commercial success—he is an inventor on more than 25 issued patents. He is a cofounder of Liquidmetal Technologies, in Lake Forrest, California, which commercialized one of Dr. Johnson’s BMG alloys for golf club heads (under the company name “LiquidMetal Golf”). The company is now pursuing opportunities in cases for electronic devices. It is also expanding into the defense industry, as some of the BMG composites have demonstrated properties superior to depleted uranium as high-velocity penetrators. Dr. Johnson served on the editorial board of the Journal of Rapid Solidification and serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Applied Physics and Applied Physics Letters. He was a principal editor of the MRS Journal of Material Science. He is the author or co-author of more than 360 publications in the scientific literature and has contributed chapters to 7 books. He has held numerous consulting positions for the Department of Energy, NASA, and corporations. Over the past two decades, he has been a consultant and on numerous advisory panels for the U.S. Department of Energy, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the National Academy of Engineering.


Eric J. Jumper is a professor in the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Notre Dame, where he is also a member of the Center for Flow Physics and Control and directs the Aero-Optics Laboratory in the University of Notre Dame’s Hessert Laboratory for Aerospace Research. His research includes work on aero-optics, turbomachines and turbofans, and aircraft wake dynamics. He has also taught at both the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and at the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio. In addition to his academic appointments, Dr. Jumper has worked as a research aerodynamicist and as chief of the Laser Devices Division at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory. He holds a BS from the University of New Mexico, an MS in mechanical engineering from the University of Wyoming, and a PhD in gas dynamics and laser physics from the Air Force Institute of Technology. His expertise is in military acquisition and procurement, aerospace engineering, space science, government technical program management, physics, thermodynamics, propulsion and combustion, orbital mechanics, aerodynamics, reentry heating and thermal protection materials, surface chemistry, and aero-optics.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2011. Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13144.
×

Robert H. Latiff is recently retired as vice president, chief engineer and technology officer in Science Applications International Corporation’s (SAIC) Space and Geospatial Intelligence Business Unit. He retired from the U.S. Air Force as a major general, with his last assignments at the National Reconnaissance Office as the director for systems engineering and as the director of advanced systems and technology. General Latiff was a career acquisition officer, managing large, complex systems such as the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, the Air Force’s airspace management and landing systems, and the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS). General Latiff holds MS and PhD degrees in materials science and a BS in physics from the University of Notre Dame.


Judith Schneider is an associate professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department of Mississippi State University. She obtained her MS and PhD degrees from the University of California, Davis, in 1993 and 1996, respectively. Following her graduation, she was employed as a postdoctoral researcher at the Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California, and at the Max Planck Institute for Powder Metallurgy in Stuttgart, Germany. Dr. Schneider’s research thrust is correlation of the environmental effects, such as temperature and strain rate, on the mechanical performance of structural materials. Much of her research centers on the characterization of the microstructural evolution during either the processing or service life of the material. This area of research focuses on how materials can be fabricated to produce suitable microstructures for specific structural applications. Her approach is to design experiments that decouple the predicted events to quantify the deformation conditions and correlate this with the microstructural evolution and material behavior. To achieve this goal, experiments are designed to decouple the physical events to verify and validate the analytical treatment of the process. Prior to earning her graduate degrees in materials science, Dr. Schneider was employed as a design/testing engineer at Aerojet Propulsion Company in Sacramento, California. There she was involved in the design, fabrication, and testing of prototype liquid rocket engines.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2011. Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13144.
×
Page 180
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2011. Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13144.
×
Page 181
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2011. Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13144.
×
Page 182
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2011. Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13144.
×
Page 183
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2011. Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13144.
×
Page 184
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2011. Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13144.
×
Page 185
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Biographies of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2011. Materials Needs and R&D Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13144.
×
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The ongoing development of military aerospace platforms requires continuous technology advances in order to provide the nation's war fighters with the desired advantage. Significant advances in the performance and efficiency of jet and rocket propulsion systems are strongly dependent on the development of lighter more durable high-temperature materials. Materials development has been significantly reduced in the United States since the early 1990s, when the Department of Defense (DOD), the military services, and industry had very active materials development activities to underpin the development of new propulsion systems. This resulted in significant improvements in all engine characteristics and established the United States in global propulsion technology.

Many of the significant advances in aircraft and rocket propulsion have been enabled by improved materials and, materials manufacturing processes. To improve efficiency further, engine weight must be reduced while preserving thrust. Materials Needs and Research and Development Strategy for Future Military Aerospace Propulsion Systems examines whether current and planned U.S. efforts are sufficient to meet U.S. military needs while keeping the U.S. on the leading edge of propulsion technology. This report considers mechanisms for the timely insertion of materials in propulsion systems and how these mechanisms might be improved, and describes the general elements of research and development strategies to develop materials for future military aerospace propulsion systems. The conclusions and recommendations asserted in this report will enhance the efficiency, level of effort, and impact of DOD materials development activities.

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