Posted on 09/09/2003 3:14:01 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Watch 45 minute lecture: Set your speed preference and play now
SPEAKER: Edwin L. Thomas
Morris Cohen Professor of Materials Science and
Engineering, MIT School of Engineering
ABOUT THE LECTURE:
A U.S. Army soldier carries more than 100 pounds of gear into battle. What can be done to lighten the load, while still providing maximum protection? Edwin Thomas, Director of MIT’s new Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, describes an alternative to the past practice of “dressing up a soldier like a Christmas tree”. He describes instead, a dynamic battle suit that wards off bullets and biochemical threats while providing real-time data on the soldier’s medical condition. Thomas, who spent time training for this project at Fort Polk, explains how interdisciplinary teams are exploring nanomaterial designs that could also benefit civilian emergency responders.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Edwin Thomas is Director of the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, a $50 million collaboration between the United States Army, MIT, and corporate partners. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Cornell University. He received the National Science Foundation’s Special Creativity Award in 1996 and 1988, the High Polymer Physics Prize of the American Physical Society in 1991, and the American Chemical Society’s Creative Polymer Chemist Award in 1985. His research interests include the optical properties of block copolymers, and the application of electron microscopy to disordered materials.
Edwin Thomas/faculty
Thomas Research Group
Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies
NOTES ON THE VIDEO (Time Index):
Video length is 45:08
Q&A begins at 32:52
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The Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) is an interdepartmental research center at MIT. Established in 2002 by a five-year contract from the U.S. Army, the ISN's research mission is to use nanotechnology to dramatically improve the survival of soldiers.
One of the things you'll come away with -- as if we didn't already know this -- is how totally clueless academia is about the military.
Make sure you watch the Q&A segment at the end . . . It is perhaps the most interesting part of the lecture. The amazing thing is there wasn't even one question about organization, lol!
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