Honorary Plenary Speaker:

Roy D. Bridges, Jr. 

Director: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia 23681-0001

Title: Biomimetics and Nano-Bio Research at NASA

ROY D. BRIDGES, JR.
Director, NASA Langley Research Center

Roy D. Bridges, Jr., is Director of NASA’s Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia.  NASA Langley, founded in 1917, is the nation’s first civilian aeronautical research facility and NASA’s oldest field center.

As the senior management official of the laboratory employing approximately 2,400 civil service personnel, Bridges is responsible for the Center’s aeronautical and space research programs, as well as facilities, personnel and administration.  He is also an advisor to the NASA Administrator on Agency programs.

Bridges came to Langley after serving as Director of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for over six years.  In that capacity, he was responsible for managing facilities and activities related to the processing and launch of the Space Shuttle, processing and integration of Shuttle payloads and those aboard Expendable Launch Vehicles (ELVs), as well as final tests and preparation of elements delivered to the International Space Station via Shuttle. He was also responsible for managing the acquisition and launch of all NASA ELV missions.

Bridges is a retired U.S. Air Force Major General who has held many key space-related roles.  Prior to his last USAF assignment at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, he was the Commander, Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.  He also was the Commander, Eastern Space and Missile Center, Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., and Commander, 412^th Test Wing, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

As a NASA Astronaut, he piloted the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51F in July 1985.

Bridges is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering science.  He received a master of science degree in astronautics from Purdue University, Ind., and, in May 2001, he received an honorary doctorate of engineering degree from Purdue.

He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors.  Most recently, he was awarded NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal and the Presidential Meritorious Executive Award.

Bridges was born in Atlanta, Ga., but grew up in Gainesville, Ga.  He lives in Williamsburg, Va.  He and his wife Benita have two adult children and two grandchildren.

Plenary Speakers:

Professor Sia Nemat-Nasser

Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials, University of California-San Diego, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, La Jolla, California, USA

Title: Ionic Polymer-Metal Composites as Soft Actuators and Sensors

Dr. L. McDonald Schetky 

Memry Corporation, Bethel, Connecticut, USA

Title: Improvements in Nitinol Processing and Component Fabriction to Meet the Demands of Future Medical Device
Performance

Professor Gerald H. Pollack 

Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

Title: Cells, Gels and the Engines of Life: A Fresh Approach to Biomimetics and Biomechanics

Honorary Speaker:

Professor L. Eric Cross, Member of the National Academy of Engineering

Materials Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 

Title: Recent Progress in Transducer Material for Sensing and Actuation Function

Keynote Speakers :

-Professor Dr. Hans-Jörg Schneider, FR Organische Chemie und Institut für neue Materialien , Universität des Saarlandes, Saarlandes, Germany  

Title: Molecular Recognition in Chemomechanical Polymers with Supramolecular Binding Sites  

-Professor Miklos Zrinyi, Department of Physical Chemistry, Technical University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary

Title: Gel-Based Artificial Muscles  

-Professor Donald J. Leo, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburgh, VA, USA

Title: Electromechanical Modeling and Control of Ionic Polymer Material Systems

C.Jeffrey Brinker, Member of the National Academy of Engineering, Sandia National Laboratories, and Chemical and Nuclear Engineering & Chemistry Departments, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Title: Attempts to Mimic Nature in Synthetic Nanostructures

-Professor Patrick Keller, Institut Curie Section de Recherche, France

Title: Nematic Side-On Liquid Crystalline Elastomers as Artificial Muscles 

-Professor Ray H. Baughman, Nanotech Institute and Department of Chemistry University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas, USA

Title: Carbon Nanotube Actuators: From the Fundamental Physics to Device Performance and Targeted Applications

-Professor Richard O. Claus, Fiber & Electro-Optics Research Center, Virginia Tech,Blacksburg, VA, USA 

Title: Metal Rubber^TM Flexible Electrodes And Interconnects

-Professor Toshihiro Hirai,  Department of Materials Chemistry, Shinshu University,
Ueda-shi 386-8567, Japan, 

Title: Electrically Active Non-Ionic Artificial Muscle

-Professor Qiming M. Zhang, Mls Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State UNiversity, College Park, PA 16802 

Title: High Dielectric Constant Polymers for Artificial Muscles And Other Applications

John G. Michopoulos, US Naval Research Laboratory, Material Science and Technology Division, Washington, DC, 20375, USA

Title: Experimental Calibration Of Non-Linear Continuum Multi-Field Ionic Polymer Plate Modeling

-Professor Kwang J. Kim, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA

Title: Self-Oscillatory Ionic Polymer-Metal Composites  

-Professor Sul Kassicieh, Management of Technology Programs,  School of Management, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 

Title: Commercializing Technologies In The Bio/Nano Space: Issues And Challenges

-Professor H. Eric Nuttall, Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 

Title: Biomimetics in Environmental Remediation: Emulating Bioremediation Using Nanoscale Porphyrin Chemistry

Professor Mohsen Shahinpoor, Artificial Muscle Research Institute, School of Medicine, Neurological Surgery Division, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 

Title: Ionic Polymer Conductor Composite As Distributed Nanosensors, Nanoactuators and Artificial Muscles-A Review

Invited Speakers:

-Dr. Serban Peteu, University of Southern California Molecular Nanorobotics Laboratory, Los Angeles CA 90089-0781

Title: Meso-Scale Polymeric Actuators and Sensors

Professor Mehmet Sarikaya,  Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering Department, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 

Title: Molecular Biomimetics: Nanotechnology through Biology

-Professor Carolyn Dry, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-Champaign, Ill, USA 

Title: Self Repairing and Self Forming Materials 

-Dr. Ji Su, NASA Langley Research Center, Advanced Materials and Processing Branch, Hampton, VA 23681, USA 

Title: Electromechanically Functional Elastomers (EMFE) -Materials, Mechanisms, and Applications

-Professor Ron Lumia, Manufacturing Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Title: Artificial Muscle Microgrippers

-Ebtisam Wilkins, University of New Mexico, Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Department, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Title: MINIATURE, PORTABLE, AUTOMATED DEVICE AS A DIAGNOSTIC TOOL FOR PATHOGENS

 -Professor Elisabeth Smela, Laboratory  of Microtechnology, Small Smart System Center, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland. College Park, MD 20742

Title: Modeling Ion Transport in Conjugated Polymers

Professor Shigeki Sugiyama,  University of Gifu, 1-1, Yanagido, Gifu City, Gifu 505-1193, Japan

Title: Augmented Agent For Multi-Purposes

Professor Gauri P. Misra , Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007, India

Title: Electrically Conducting Polymer Networks As Artificial Muscles

Professor Dermot Diamond, National Centre for Sensor Research , School of Chemical Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland

Title: Internet-Scale Sensing; Are Biomimetic Approaches the Answer?