Meeting Locations and Directions

Aerospace Materials - Challenges and Opportunities

Dr. Thomas P. Russell Air Force Office of Scientific Research Directorate of Aerospace, Chemical and Material Sciences

Dates:  November 20, 2007
Time:   6:00 pm - Social, 6:30 pm - Dinner, 7:30 pm - Announcements, 7:45 pm - Dessert and Coffee, 8:00 pm - Presentation
Place:  Executive Conference Center, Arlington, VA (see meeting locations link above)
RSVP:  by November 19, 2007 to Theresa Valentine Clark, chair@asm-dc.org or (301) 415-4048 (leave a message).
Cost:  $20 for dinner, including beer and wine. Students pay only $10!

Abstract:
Please join us for a discussion of what's new in aerospace materials. Dr. Russell will kick off the session with an overview of some recent materials-driven highlights from the Aerospace, Chemical and Material Sciences Directorate in the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The fundamental portfolio and integrated initiatives endeavor to discover physics, chemistry and engineering principles for material systems. The ultimate challenges underlying the program are to enable higher performance aerospace systems through improving performance by exploiting multi-functional materials, holistic materials systems, discovery of new materials, and enhancing non-destructive inspection and evaluation capabilities for structural health monitoring.

Biography:
Dr. Thomas P. Russell is responsible for the Air Force basic research program in Aerospace and Materials Sciences, assuring the excellence and relevance of a broad research portfolio encompassing researches activities in aerospace, engineering, and materials. At present, the directorate's program managers oversee more than 350 basic research projects. The five major projects in the directorate are solid mechanics and structures, materials, fluid dynamics, chemistry and propulsion. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2006. Dr. Russell's government career began when he was recruited as a research scientist at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, White Oak Laboratory in White Oak, Md. He has also spent time at the Naval Research Laboratory, and was a visiting scientist at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST), an adjunct professor at the Washington State University Shock Dynamics Laboratory, a part-time faculty member at Montgomery College, and a Department Head at Indian Head Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center. Tom's principal fields of interest are energetic materials, decomposition/combustion chemistry, detonation physics/chemistry, high pressure chemistry/physics, and spectroscopy. He has authored more than 100 publications and inventions in these areas.