UM aero conference challenges

James B. Lackey, the Army’s director of aviation and missile research and development, was among guest speakers at the “Advanced Materials for Transformative Changes to the Defense, Aerospace and Civil Environments” conference at the University of Mississippi on Nov. 17. He spoke to the Army’s needs for research in the areas of lighter weight, stronger composite systems and materials for missile systems. The conference, in its second day at Ole Miss, was sponsored by the Mississippi Research Consortium, chaired by Gordon Cannon, VP for research at the University of Southern Mississippi. The consortium is made up of Mississippi’s four research universities: UM, USM, Mississippi State and Jackson State. Lackey’s presentation was a prime example of conference goals “to bring forward recent advances in materials science and mechanics in the various sectors (defense, aerospace and civil) and to bridge the gaps between them by increasing awareness of research needs and capabilities in order to create enabling technologies for various applications that have national impact.” Additional presentations were made by the National Science Foundation and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. (Source: Hotty Toddy 11/18/16)