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Southwest Research Institute^®

Charles E. Anderson, Jr., (B.S. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute; M.S. and Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) is Director of the Engineering Dynamics Department of SwRI, where he oversees and manages a multi-disciplinary effort to investigate the dynamic response of materials and structures. He has been active for over 30 years in numerical simulation of explosive-metal interactions and impact mechanics, using numerical simulation for fundamental and applied studies. Dr. Anderson is recognized for his leadership in combining numerical simulations with experimental data to develop advanced models of the response of materials to shock, impact, and penetration. He has been the organizing chair and technical chair for a number of international conferences/symposia. Dr. Anderson continues to serve on Government advisory boards dealing with issues in computational mechanics, penetration mechanics, and the response of materials at high loading rates, areas in which he has published extensively. He is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Impact Engineering, and a fellow of the American Physical Society. In 2000, Dr. Anderson received the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Hypervelocity Impact Society for his contributions to penetration mechanics, numerical simulations of penetration mechanics, and modeling dynamic material response.

James S. Wilbeck (B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Engineering from Texas A&M University) has more than 35 years experience in the analytical and experimental study of impact mechanics, with emphasis on the development of simplified analytical and numerical models. Over the years, Dr. Wilbeck has applied his background in wave propagation, material characterization, and impact mechanics to the study of fragment and hit-to-kill lethality of missile systems, shaped charge and EFP development, long rod penetration, and the response of high explosives to impact. He is currently involved in both the testing and analysis of the response of rockets, artillery and mortar to bullet impact. Dr. Wilbeck has authored more than 50 reports and papers concerning studies of impact, scale modeling, and material characterization.

Sidney Chocron (M.S. and Ph.D. from Polytechnic University of Madrid) has experience in low and high strain rate constitutive models for ceramics, metals and foams applied to analytical and numerical computations. An emphasis of his research has been the fundamental study of ballistic fabrics (woven and nonwoven) and composites. Dr. Chocron has been active in the field for almost 15 years, most of the time in Madrid and San Antonio but performing occasional research in other centers such as University of Oxford (England), US Army Natick (Massachusetts), Technion (Israel), and UT-Austin (Texas). Dr. Chocron has coauthored close to 70 technical papers/reports. After co-chairing the International Ballistics Symposium in Tarragona, Spain, he became a member of the International Ballistics Committee in April 2007. Dr. Chocron teaches portions of Advanced Solid Mechanics and Mechanical Behavior of Materials at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and assists as referee for five international journals.

Kathryn A. Dannemann (B. S. and M. S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is a materials engineer with more than 20 years experience in materials performance and mechanical behavior of materials. Her work has focused on the interactive effects of processing and microstructure on materials performance. At Southwest Research Institute, she has directed numerous programs investigating the response of various materials in systems ranging from aircraft fuel lines to industrial gas turbines. Dr. Dannemann’s current research activities include damage characterization and investigation of the high strain rate response of metals, high strength ceramics and composites, and geologic materials. She complements her experimental work with modeling and numerical simulations of high rate phenomena. She has held numerous leadership positions in technical societies, including Chairman of the Eastern NY Chapter of ASM International (formerly American Society for Metals) and Chairman of the High Temperature Alloys Committee of TMS (The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society).

Scott A. Mullin (B.S. from The University of Texas at El Paso; and M.S. from California Institute of Technology) is the Manger of the Ballistics and Explosives Engineering Section, and has more than 20 years experience in impact phenomenology, penetration mechanics, explosive and ballistic sciences, scale modeling, and instrumentation. He has served as project manager and principle investigator on over 50 experimental programs at the SwRI ballistic range, where he has been responsible for design, instrumentation, data gathering, and analysis. Mr. Mullin has been actively involved in scale (similitude) modeling during his tenure at SwRI, applying the technique in many diverse areas of experimental design and data analysis. He is also an instructor in the SwRI short course, Scale Modeling in Engineering Dynamics.

James D. Walker (B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. from The University of Utah) has done research in wave propagation, plasticity, penetration mechanics, and fracture and failure of metals and ceramics. Dr. Walker has conducted fundamental research in penetration mechanics including the development of analytical models and use of hydrocodes. He has performed research on shaped charges, including jet incoherence and modifications to launch small fragments for use in orbital debris impact studies. Research activities include modeling ball and armor-piercing small arms impacting ballistic fabrics and ceramic-faced hard targets. Dr. Walker was involved in armor design and evaluation for Army ground vehicles (including active armor) and protective systems for the Navy’s new DDG-1000 destroyer. As part of the space shuttle Columbia accident investigation, he authored the chapter "Impact Modeling" contained in Volume 2 of the Report of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. In October 2004 he was included in Popular Science’s third annual list of "Brilliant 10" scientists: he was recognized for bringing rigor to the field of impact physics and for his seminal work in impact modeling. Dr. Walker is an AIAA Distinguished Lecturer. He was awarded the 2005 ASME Holley Medal for his work in the Columbia investigation. He has taught mathematics and mechanical engineering at the graduate level at The University of Texas at San Antonio.
 

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