Seminar: Insights on Energy Needs for the U.S. Air Force

Abstract

The U.S. Air Force consumes more petroleum than the rest of the Department of Defense combined. Operational environments pose some unique technical challenges. For instance, the most efficient photovoltaic cells are developed and used by the U.S. Air Force for satellite applications. Limited weight, volume and other considerations arise that are not necessarily encountered in other applications. At the same time, the Department of Defense budget is miniscule in comparison with the revenues of many energy companies, and so the Department of Defense must keep abreast of broader energy trends in charting paths for the future. The talk will be a high level, non-technical talk outlining some of the considerations as well as some discussion on how various programmatic pieces fit together.

About the speaker

Douglas Dudis leads the Energy Office of the Air Force Research Laboratory. In this capacity he serves to integrate, nurture, guide and develop power-energy-thermal related technologies of application to the Air Force, whether on aircraft, satellites, ground support equipment or facility. He has broad experience in chemistry, physics and materials sciences. He has special expertise in quantum methods applied to organic materials for electronic, nonlinear optical applications, as well as energy technologies such as fuel cells, batteries and photovoltaics. He led the thermal energy conversion and thermal energy storage thrusts in the thermal science branch, developing new materials for critical Air Force thermal management problems from low to high temperature regimes. He obtained a BS in chemistry, University of Dayton (1980) and PhD in chemistry, Case Western Reserve University (1984). He has authored over 113 referred publications and given over 271 invited and contributed presentations. He received awards including Charles Cleary Award (1991), Air Force Basic Science Award (Hon Mention) (1993) and Affiliate Societies Council Fellow – Outstanding Scientist (2001).

Hosted by Professor Jung-Hyun Kim.