My ‘day job’ and my ‘weekend job’. The Air Force Research Laboratory 101 and Soft-Matter Dynamic Optical Research

Abstract: The DOD research laboratories are mission-driven entities combining competency-based scientists and engineers (‘practicioners’) immersed in a mission-centric, application-rich, purpose driven  (capability) environment.  The seminar will consist of two separate parts including first an overview of the Air Force Research Laboratory from my day job’s perspective, being the Chief Technology Officer of the $3.5B, 6000 person organization. I will discuss current technical foci, internship opportunities, and how to connect. Second, I will discuss active research topic I am still connected with (my ‘weekend’ job).    This will examine liquid crystal/polymer systems being developed for a variety of static and dynamic photonic applications.  Recent advances in patterning the director field across the in-plane direction and the development of new materials (novel reactive mesogenic materials and photosensitive molecules) has enabled a new breed of dynamic photonic elements based on passive and dynamic cycloidal diffractive thin film waveplates. 

Bio: Dr. Timothy J. Bunning is the Chief Technology Officer for Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), responsible for assisting with the planning and execution of an annual $3.5 billion Air Force science and technology program and considerable resources executed on behalf of a variety of customers. He serves as the corporate-level science and technology interface for a government workforce of ~6,000 people in the laboratory's ten technology directorates and 711th Human Performance Wing. He is active in numerous technical communities and is a Fellow of AFRL, the Optical Society of America, the Society of Optical Engineering, the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Materials Research Society and the Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering Division of ACS. His research interests center on responsive optical, electro- optical and photo-optical structured organic and hybrid materials and approaches for utility in optical sensing, laser beam control and filtering (modulation) applications. He has co-authored more than 350 refereed papers,  more than 130 proceedings and holds 18 patents. He is an adjunct professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and is on the editorial boards of several materials-centric journals.