6/26/2012
Written by
Joseph P. Gallagher received his BS in civil engineering from Drexel University in 1964, and MS and PhD degrees in theoretical and applied mechanics from the University of Illinois in 1965 and 1968, respectively. He retired as a member of the Senior Executive Service as the Technical Advisor for Aircraft Structural Integrity, Engineering Directorate, Aeronautical Systems Center, having served in the position from October 2002 to July 2007. As an internationally recognized authority in aircraft structural integrity, he provided technical oversight, advice and guidance to U.S. Air Force leadership and senior government officials on multiple national aerospace weapon system programs. For more than 40 years, he developed, promoted and applied damage tolerance, durability and structural integrity design methods to airframes, aircraft engines and mechanical subsystems. Gallagher led the merger of twoAmerican Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) committees (E-09 on Fatigue and E-24 on Fracture Mechanics) into a single committee (E-08 on Fatigue and Fracture). He was the first chair of this merged committee and later served as a member of ASTM's Board of Directors (1997 to 2000). He has written more than 100 technical reports and papers and is a member of Sigma Xi, ASTM, the American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Materials Information Society International (ASM). He is a fellow of ASM and ASTM, and a recipient of the Fracture Mechanics Metal Award and the ASTM Award of Merit. A sustaining member of the University of Illinois Alumni Association, Gallagher served as an assistant professor of theoretical and applied mechanics at the University of Illinois from 1968 to 1972. During his career, he served in numerous technical and technical managerial positions with the Air Force Research Laboratory and the University of Dayton Research Institute before taking his final executive engineering position with the U.S. Air Force. In retirement, he continues to teach a graduate course in fracture mechanics for the College of Engineering at the University of Dayton and acts as an independent consultant.
Alten F. (Skip) Grandt, Jr. received his BS in general engineering, and MS and PhD degrees in theoretical and applied mechanics from the University of Illinois in 1968, 1969 and 1971, respectively. He is currently he Raisbeck Engineering Distinguished Professor of Engineering and Technology Integration at the Purdue School of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He began his career as a materials research engineer at the U.S. Air Force Materials Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where he worked for eight years. He joined the faculty of the Purdue University School of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1979, and was head of the school from 1985 to 1992. He now teaches courses in aerospace structural analysis, structural design, fatigue and nondestructive inspection. He holds one patent, has published over 175 papers dealing with fatigue and fracture of aerospace materials, and has advised approximately 60 M.S. and Ph.D. research theses in those areas. He is the author of a 540-page textbook dealing with fracture mechanics and nondestructive inspection (A. F. Grandt, Jr., Fundamentals of Structural Integrity: Damage Tolerant Design and Nondestructive Evaluation, John Wiley and Sons, 2004) and also co-author of a 400- page book detailing the history of the Purdue School of Aeronautics and Astronautics (A. F. Grandt, Jr., W. A. Gustafson, and L. T. Cargnino, One Small Step: The History of Aerospace Engineering at Purdue University, 1995). Grandt is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the recipient of the United States Air Force 2000 John W. Lincoln Medal for career contributions to the field of aircraft structural integrity. He is a lifetime member of the University of Illinois Alumni Association.
David L. McDowell received his MS and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1981 and 1983, respectively. He is Regents' Professor and Carter N. Paden, Jr. Distinguished Chair in metals processing in the School of Materials Science and Engineering and the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. There, he has served as director of the Mechanical Properties Research Laboratory since 1992, and chair of the Materials Council since 1994. McDowell's research focuses on the synthesis of experiment and computation to develop physically based constitutive models for nonlinear and time-dependent behavior of materials, with emphasis on wrought and cast alloy systems. Phenomena of interest include cyclic plasticity and fatigue, finite strain plasticity, defect field theories, behavior of foams and honeycomb materials, microstructurally small fatigue crack behavior, creep-fatigue-environment interaction, time-dependent fracture, nano-mechanics with focus on interfaces, and multi-scale modeling. As co-director of the NSF-sponsored Center for Computational Materials Design, a joint Penn State-Georgia Tech I/UCRC, he is actively pursing development of strategies for multifunctional design of materials. McDowell currently serves on the editorial boards of several journals, and is co-editor of the International Journal of Fatigue. A fellow of the Society of Engineering Science (SES), the Materials Information Society International (ASM), and the American Society of Mechanical engineers (ASME), McDowell is a recipient of the 1997 ASME Materials Division Nadai Award for career achievement and the 2008 Khan International Medal for lifelong contributions to the field of metal plasticity. He served as a member of the M&IE Alumni Board (now MechSE) at the University of Illinois from 1999 to 2002.
Paul R. Predick received his BS in aeronautical engineering and his MS in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1972 and 1973, respectively. He is a senior vice president with Sargent & Lundy in Chicago, Illinois. Predick has more than 30 years of power plant management, procurement and design experience. He is responsible for the quality implementation of projects that have included environmental control projects, new coal-fired and natural-gas fired combined cycle and cogeneration projects. He works jointly with the client and the project team to set project objectives, design parameters and operating philosophies. He served as a member of the M&IE Alumni Board from 2003 to 2006 and currently serves as a senior alumni board emeritus. Predick has sponsored MechSE senior design projects, the Formula SAE team and regularly travels to the University of Illinois campus to speak to students. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Western Society of Engineers and has been author or co-author to more than 15 technical papers. Predick is a member of the Chancellor's Circle, a lifetime member of the University of Illinois Alumni Association and a President's Council member since 2001.
Kent F. Schien received his BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1981, and earned both a masters' degree in engineering management and a graduate certificate in technical enterprise from Washington University in St. Louis.He began his career at McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis. For 10 years, he supported a variety of projects which later culminated in his role as ground support manager for the Space Station Program. He then spent four years with LaBarge, Inc. In January of 1996, Schien founded Innoventor in the basement of his home. Within 10 years he built a multi-disciplined team of over 80 engineers which supports customers in multiple industries. Innoventor's core competency lies at the intersection of a customer's problem (production, process or product development) and an innovative technical solution. He has led his company to be a four-time recipient of the "St. Louis Region Top 50 Company" award. In 2007, he received the "Missouri Small Business Person of the Year" award issued by the U.S. Small Business Administration. In June of 2001, Schien joined Vistage (TEC) and sought leadership coaching to help expand his understanding and capabilities as leader of his organization. He was so impressed with the process that he sent his entire senior management team through the program. His commitment to preparing young engineers for the real world is clearly illustrated in Innoventor's co-op and extern programs, as well as other hands on training opportunities. Since the company's inception, nearly 50 students have spent time job shadowing his engineering team and learning the business. It is his goal to hire at least one new promising graduate everyyear. Schien has been active on the Mechanical Science and Engineering Alumni Boardof Directors (formerly Mechanical and Industrial Engineering) since 1997, and is currently the president emeritus. He was a 2008 recipient of the University of Illinois Alumni Association Constituent Leadership Award, which recognized him for his work in mergingthe programs, faculty, students and alumni boards of the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. He is also dedicated to the St. Louis community in a variety of ways. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for the St. Louis Science Center. A long-time member of the Missouri State Board for the Easter Seal Society(ESS), he was selected to serve on the Easter Seals International Board of Directors in 2008.He has been involved with ESS since 1986, andwas selected as the Missouri Volunteer of the Year in both 1990 and 2005. He is a sustaining lifetime member of the University of Illinois Alumni Association.