Materials Scientist
- Led the development of new materials and production processes for applications in energy, defense, and aerospace- Directed a multidisciplinary team of chemists, chemical engineers, and mechanical engineers as the lead scientist- Authored technical proposals to secure contract funding for new material technologies, encompassing all phases of research from initial concept through scale-up production and economic analysis- Communicated technical progress internally to management and externally to customers and government agencies through technical reports and presentations- Created and tracked project plans, timelines, funding, milestones, and risk mitigation strategies- Interacted with external customers and material suppliers to understand market needs and supply chains- Assessed chemical and laboratory safety hazards and developed standard operating procedures (SOPs)- Led laboratory efforts to develop novel coatings, adsorbents, and adhesives using diverse chemistries such as hydrophilic zwitterions and hydrophobic silicones- Leveraged azide-alkyne click chemistry to design and synthesize novel rapidly curing, non-polyurethane polymers- Developed a process to produce energetic thermoplastics for propellant applications, successfully reducing batch times from greater than 2 days to less than 1 hour- Implemented design of experiments (DOE) and statistical analysis approach to optimize chemical formulations- Built process models to conduct techno-economic analyses for the scale-up of a pilot chemical plant, providing estimates of capital and operating expenses (CAPEX, OPEX) and return on investment (ROI)- Used a variety of analytical chemistry techniques, including spectroscopy and diffractometry (NMR, FTIR, UV-Vis-NIR, EDX, ICP-OES, XRD, fluorescence), chromatography (GC-MS, GPC), thermal analysis (DSC, TGA), and microscopy (SEM, optical light) to characterize the properties of materials and track changes in processes
