Benjamin Leever Email & Phone Number

Dayton, Oh, Us

Wright-Patterson Afb, Oh

- Lead branch of 27 government and 70 contractor personnel in 6.1 - 6.3 research and development of nanomaterials, polymers, responsive and architected materials, autonomous experimentation, and advanced manufacturing processes for applications including high temperature electronics packaging, soft robotics, resilient coatings and elastomers, sensors, and flexible electronics among others.

Wright-Patterson Afb, Oh

- Lead branch of 30 government and 75 contractor personnel in 6.1 - 6.3 research and development of biotechnology, flexible electronics, polymers, responsive and architected materials, and autonomous experimentation for applications including agile infrastructure, human performance monitoring/augmentation, biomanufacturing, other others.

Wright-Patterson Afb, Oh

- Led AFRL's Manufacturing & Industrial Technology Division of ~ 80 gov't, military, and contractor personnel, managing an annual budget of ~$400M that included AFRL, DAF, and OSD programs. 1st level supervisor for 5 personnel and 2nd level supervisor for 62 personnel.- Contributed to DAF and DoD strategy for advanced manufacturing and industrial base policy- Oversaw the maturation and transition of critical manufacturing technologies to USAF and USSF customers

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

- Provided manufacturing technology and tech transition guidance across all AFRL Manufacturing Technology programs as well as new Directorate programs through participation in Directorate Technology Council- Spearheaded technical interchanges with high priority industrial and government partners in support of strategy development, technology transition, and Air Force/DoD objectives- Led division-level team to establish Air Force ManTech Strategic Investment Plan, providing framework for $40M/yr investments over 5-7 year time horizon aligned with AF priorities, National Defense Strategy, and manufacturing trends. Led SWOT analysis, including organizing two workshops that engaged > 100 SMEs from gov’t agencies and > 30 companies.- Led division-level team to define technical scope of new digital manufacturing research team and to integrate the team construct with ongoing efforts across directorate, gov’t labs, and industry

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

- Led team of seven program managers in external program execution, customer engagement, requirement definition, and strategy development for technologies related to human performance monitoring, flexible & printed electronics for unmanned platforms, bio-materials, and mitigation of bio-contamination.- Based on existing and anticipated Air Force needs, developed technology maturation programs, determine appropriate governmental, industrial, and academic partners, and identified funding opportunities to deliver advanced capabilities to the warfighter.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

- Crafted integrated vision for directorate Airman Performance Monitoring & Aeromedicine internal & external investments while strengthening partnerships with government, industrial, and academic collaborators through workshops, successful proposal development, and jointly executed projects.- Jointly led development of $10M initiative to demonstrate wearable technology for human performance monitoring in confined spaces. Contributed to technical plan for $3M Air Force investment analyzing the reliability of wearable performance monitoring devices. - Developed portfolio-based program management construct for branch (department), resulting in more effective resource management, development of new project concepts, and improved communication of branch mission & accomplishments.- Presented AFRL R&D efforts related to flexible electronics and airman performance monitoring at seven national & international conferences and workshops, including five invited presentations (two plenary).

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Oh

-Led a team to develop the vision, strategy, and technical plans for both implementation and R&D of additive manufacturing of electronics and optics for Air Force applications.-Facilitated collaborations and partnerships among AFRL research groups and between AFRL, other government labs, industrial partners, and academia.-Executed additive manufacturing programs for flexible electronics and conformal antennas, including a conformal antenna that will transition to the MQ-9 Reaper platform.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Oh

- Execute $1M annual applied research budget for newly formed Flexible Materials & Devices Research Team, including defining long-term R&D goals connected to strategic Air Force needs, establishing and managing collaborations and contracts with universities, industry, and government organizations such as DARPA, OSD, ONR, NRL, ARL, ARO, DoE, and NASA.- Manage Integrated Devices for Autonomous Power Roadmap, 3-yr, $1.75M program. Led joint DoD/industrial team to first demonstration of high efficiency (30%) solar panels & power electronics integrated into air small unmanned air vehicle to demonstrate 2X increase in flight endurance.- Lead Air Force Materials & Manufacturing Directorate Integrated Product Team for Power & Energy and DoD Advanced Materials Team for Power & Energy. Maintain organizational vision for power & energy and spearhead collaboration with domestic and international defense labs.- Manage post-doctoral and undergraduate researchers in solar energy & flexible electronics. As principal investigator, report results in journal articles and in national/international conferences. Developed & patented new AFM technique, introduced new surface energy model to predict organic device nanostructure, demonstrated new approach to fabricate solar cells on structural materials.- Write proposals and requirements documents for in-house and external power & energy (solar cells, batteries, and capacitors) as well as flexible electronics programs

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Oh

- Managed multiple Manufacturing Technology programs including writing statements of work, evaluating technical proposals, tracking program financials and technical progress, and planning for future phases. Spinel ($1.7M): production scale-up of transparent ceramic EO/IR lenses and windows, Infrared Focal Plane Arrays ($2.2M): fabrication & yield improvements for F-35 InSb detectors, and Fluorine Polyester ($0.3M): process improvements for high-temperature polymeric capacitors.- Directed Spinel Integrated Product Team activities. Interacted extensively with both defense contractors and Joint Strike Fighter representatives in order to mitigate technical risks, evaluate program progress, identify leveraging opportunities, and better define current and future war-fighter requirements.- Wrote topic (requirements) for FY2006 Small Business Innovative Research effort in reducing the cost of IR transparent domes through manufacturing improvements.- Worked with department management and Air Force materials experts in planning $18.5M six-year Full Spectrum Protection program for personnel and platform laser protection.

San Jose, California

- Prior to award of Institute, defined the technical vision and plan for the $170M Manufacturing USA public-private partnership establishing a domestic manufacturing ecosystem in Flexible Hybrid Electronics by engaging diverse stakeholders across industry, government, universities, and non-profit agencies. - Jointly lead identification of Institute Project Call topics and proposal review, which has included approximately 150 proposals and $45M in awarded projects to date.- Oversee technical roadmap initiative consisting of nine technical working groups and approximately 200 subject matter expert contributors.- Jointly organize and lead technical workshops and technical reviews and jointly lead the NextFlex Technical Council.

Landshut, Germany

- Prepared glass and carbon fiber sheets for resin injection and sanded and milled body panels following production as part of optimization project.- Wrote and revised detailed instructions and summaries (in German) involving the RTM process.- Maintained an electronic database tracking all experimental body panels and associated data.

Columbus, Oh

- Provided engineering and chemistry support in the planning and performance of chemistry research and development projects.- Set-up and performed experiments ranging from micro scale protein chemistry to bench-top scale inorganic chemistry, compiling the results in Microsoft® Excel and Access. - Wrote and revised experimental procedures, reduced and analyzed data, reported and presented results, revised a major departmental report.- Provided basic analytical support including specific ion electrode potentiometry, size exclusion high performance liquid chromatography, and UV/visible spectrophotometry

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Materials Engineering

Activities and Societies: Northwestern Curling Club, American Chemical Society, Materials Research SocietyDissertation Title.

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Chemical Engineering, Magna Cum Laude

Activities and Societies: American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Tau Beta Pi