It is almost impossible to put into words an aerospace career in core research and new product development, spanning almost 40 years. But here it is, a long but fascinating read for aviation enthusiasts!

Dr. Naveen Rastogi (PhD), our next pathbreaker, is a subject matter expert in structural design, analysis, testing and certification of advanced composite structures. 

Dr Naveen talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about his diverse work experience in a wide range of industries including Aerospace, Automotives, R&D and Academia primarily in composite materials.

For students, in a field such as Aerospace with never ending challenges, you are only as good as you enter your work facility each day. Yesterday is history!

Naveen, what were your initial years like?

Hello All ! My name is Naveen Rastogi. I was born in Chandni Chowk area of Delhi. My parents/ancestors are  from Meerut, Badaun, Bareilly and Lucknow regions of Uttar Pradesh. My parents moved to Delhi in  the late 1950’s to start their journey of life. My father worked as an Accountant in the Uttar  Pradesh government and my mother was a Hindi language teacher in Delhi administration schools.  

I started my early childhood schooling in Happy School, Darya Ganj, Delhi. I ended up changing many schools during my early years due to one reason or another. I finally settled down for my senior  secondary education at a prestigious Government Model School, Civil Lines, Delhi which is very close  to University of Delhi and present-day Delhi Vidhana Sabha.  

My parents were very supportive of my choices and never forced any specific profession on me. My  father did suggest that I join the Indian Air Force since my grandfather served in the British Army. And of  course, they wanted me to be at the top of my class and do well in studies. I was always good in my studies, and finally graduated with very good grades in my senior secondary school.  

Though I always liked science and math, I could not maintain my interest in Biology related subjects. That pushed me towards engineering. I always wanted to study a non-traditional type of engineering discipline such as Aerospace, Marine or Textile Engineering. Partly because of my interest in joining the Indian Air Force, I finally decided to pursue my undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering. Remember, there was no google in the late 1970s and I did not have anyone in my family to guide me through the career selection process .  

In the late 1970s and 80s, an undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering after 12th grade school was only offered by the four IITs (except IIT Delhi) and Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. At that time, there were around 70-100 undergraduate aerospace engineers graduating in the whole of India . Since I did not  qualify for IITs, my only choice to pursue my dream to study Aerospace Engineering was to join Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, and that’s what I did! 

Tell us about your initial education

As mentioned above, I pursued my undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering from Punjab  Engineering College (PEC), Chandigarh. It was a four-year well-rounded degree program with a typical  Aerospace engineering curriculum teaching me subjects like mathematics, general engineering  fundamentals, aerodynamics, aircraft structures, aircraft propulsion systems and other aircraft systems such as hydraulics, pneumatics, electrical and avionics systems. The aerospace engineering  curriculum has quite a bit in common with that for mechanical and civil engineering disciplines, almost  matching anywhere between 50-70% of the overall course work. 

What were some of the influences that led you to such an offbeat, unconventional and unique career in composites?

During my undergraduate studies I went through summer internships at Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC), ISRO, Trivandrum and Indian Airlines Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Shops at Delhi Airport. The internship at VSSC was a turning point in my professional career where I learnt about aerospace structures firsthand. My mentor, Dr. A.K. Rath was a renowned structural scientist at VSSC who was involved in SLV and PSLV programs from the early days. My summer internship task was to design a sandwich panel for an equipment rack of the launch vehicle. The mentorship of Dr. Rath at VSSC and later, excellent teaching of aerospace structure’s professor Dr. Sudhakar Sharma at PEC kept my  interest in aerospace structures, and especially composites growing.  

My ever-growing interest in structures and composites led me to pursue a master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering at IIT Madras (now Chennai) with thesis specialization in the analysis of laminated  composites under the fabulous guidance of Dr. Palani Nathan and Dr. K.A.V. Pandalai, an ex-Director  of IIT Madras. 

My interest in aerospace structures and composites continued to grow, leading me to pursue graduate studies in the US. In 1991, I enrolled for a PhD in Aerospace engineering at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia with full research assistantship. Choosing the right institute for higher education  requires a lot of groundwork. I had to research and review information about many universities and  faculty members engaged in quality research work in aerospace composite materials and structures.  Again, recall that there was no google or internet to readily find such information. The old-fashioned way  was to review quality journal papers, find the information about the faculty members of interest, write them letters, and wait for their replies. The advice of my MTech advisor Dr. Palani Nathan was equally valuable in selecting the US universities to apply for PhD work.  

In the 1980s and 1990s, Virginia tech was arguably the best research institute in analysis of composite materials. At Virginia Tech, I met many internationally renowned professors engaged in teaching and  advanced research in aerospace structures and composite materials. My PhD advisor Dr. Eric R. Johnson was one such person who was one of the best teachers in aerospace structures I have ever met. He was a great person and a mentor who encouraged independent and critical thinking, and  positively shaped my career path in developing advanced analytical methods in the analysis of  composite structures.  

My research project was funded by NASA-Boeing to support High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) and Advanced Composite Technology (ACT) programs going on in the late 1980s and 90s in the US. I  conducted new and original research, and developed efficient methods to analyze orthogonally stiffened fuselage structures subjected to internal pressure, as part of my dissertation project. Using variational methods, I developed mathematical models and computational algorithms, wrote a  FORTRAN code to perform linear elastic and geometrically nonlinear elastic analysis of an  orthogonally stiffened composite shell subjected to axial, torsional and pressure loads. I also developed a consistent first order transverse shear deformation theory for laminated shells as part of  the original work for my PhD dissertation at Virginia Tech. Furthermore, I assisted in teaching undergraduate course work in “Aerospace Structures”. In 1995, I completed my dissertation work and  defended it successfully to earn a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech. Pursuing higher  education is a commitment especially so for obtaining a Doctor of Philosophy in any field. Successfully completing a PhD in Aerospace Engineering with emphasis on composite materials was the best  decision of my life and carved my life and career path in very different ways. 

Tidbits:  

– Kalpana Chawla was a year senior to me in aerospace engineering department at PEC 

– Prof. Pandalai also taught aerospace structures to Dr. Abdul Kalam  

– My PhD advisory lineage traces back to Timoshenko and Goodier  

Tell us about your Career Path that led to your PhD 

Once I chose to pursue my undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering, my career path in India  was somewhat already defined. In the 1980s there were not many employers employing Aerospace  Engineers in India and were primarily limited to a handful of government /semi-government employers  such as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, ISRO, DRDO, DGCA, Indian Airlines, Air India, or Defense forces  (Army, Navy, and Air Force). I tried in most of them and got an offer to join HAL which I accepted.  

I started my first job as Assistant Engineer at Helicopter Design Bureau (HDB), HAL Bangalore in 1983. Instead of working on Helicopter programs, I was placed in an engineering R&D group which was  helping ISRO in finalizing detailed designs for the first stage of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). My  first job was to finalize detailed analysis and design of external stringers for the first stage stiffened shell structure of PSLV and draft them to create blueprints for manufacturing. During this effort, I came up with a way to terminate stringers around cutouts in a unique way while carrying load around the cutouts for access panels. During a visit to newly created HAL Aerospace Division in Bangalore in  1989, I was thrilled to see that the detailed drawings I helped create at HDB were being used to manufacture the parts of PSLV, which was first launched in 1993 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Since then, PSLV has become the mainstay launch vehicle for ISRO.  Many missile systems for the Indian defense program are based on PSLV designs.  

My Sr. Manager at that time, Mr. Padmanabhan, encouraged me to join the Design/Management  Trainee scheme of HAL to have a better career path. A year later, I applied for HAL’s  Design/Management Trainee scheme and got selected to pursue a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering  at IIT Madras as well as a comprehensive management orientation program at HAL staff College. As explained earlier, I pursued my master’s degree at IIT Madras with emphasis on composite materials.  This was a key turning point in my career. Post completion of all my training and due to my deep interest in composite materials, I was posted to HAL, Kanpur, the Transport Aircraft division, to  support a newly initiated Dornier-228 aircraft program acquired by HAL in collaboration with then West Germany’s Deutsch Aerospace company. The Do-228 aircraft program planned to cater to the Indian  Defense industry, and the newly formed Indian Coast Guard and a commuter airline Vayudoot. Do-228 aircrafts have a few composite material applications such as control surfaces, radome fairings and  landing gear doors.

Once again despite my design and analytical work in structures and composites, I was placed in the Quality Control department of HAL, Kanpur. During the next few years, my career path and job responsibilities  were very different. During my stint with Quality Control Engineering of HAL, I planned, managed, and supervised a team of engineers/technicians engaged in quality assurance activities of Dornier Do-228  aircraft final assembly operations, including certification of aircrafts for test flights and their final  delivery to the customers. I helped establish guidelines for quality assurance of Dornier Do-228  aircraft composite structures and collaborated with a team of engineers in setting up composite  manufacturing facilities at the division. I also interacted with civil and military airworthiness agencies  and customers on quality related issues. I helped prepare “Quality Assurance Manual” for HAL Kanpur  division and was instrumental in creating quality awareness at all levels of the company by highlighting  quality related issues, and initiating programs like “Quality Circles”, “Quality Month” and “Quality”  Magazine at the grass root level to consistently improve the product quality right from the first stage  of manufacturing. I learnt many unique things about Quality Assurance, Inspection, Auditing and  Certification of aircraft through Military and Civil Airworthiness agencies such as CRI/CRE and DGCA.  Interfacing with all aspects of aircraft manufacturing, design, nonconformance, maintenance and  overhaul including product support taught me many invaluable lessons in technical and personal management that are still applicable and useful even thirty some years later. 

During my career at HAL, Kanpur I continued my interests in composites, and got involved in manufacturing and repair of a few simple composite parts of Dornier Do-228 aircraft. In February 1990, I was selected by HAL Kanpur to undergo on-the-job training in composite manufacturing and quality control at the Dornier Aircraft Manufacturing facility in Munich, then West Germany. The training at a  world-class aircraft manufacturing facility such as Dornier Do-228 and the visit to a western world country opened my thought horizon and encouraged me to pursue a career and life beyond India. As  mentioned above, I re-tried (for the third time) to pursue higher studies abroad and this time was  successful in getting admission in the PhD program at Virginia Tech with full scholarship. 

Situations like these taught me that many things are not in one’s control and one should make best use of it. Another way to look at it is that one does not know what roads lie ahead and what other opportunities can open even if the current situation is not up to one’s liking. 

Can you talk a bit about your experience in the Aerospace sector in the United States?

While the US had a lot more and wider employment opportunities for Aerospace Engineers compared to India, In the 1990s it was still very challenging for a non-resident to find a job in the aerospace industry due to  the fact that many aerospace jobs still require US residency or citizenship. Additionally, there was barely any internet or job portals in 1995 and the aerospace job market was experiencing a downtrend. So, one had to rely on printing and sending resumes, writing letters and personal networking. Through one such networking by my PhD committee Professor at Virginia Tech, Dr.  Rakesh Kapania, I secured a job as Research Scientist at a small-business company called AdTech Systems Research Inc., Dayton, Ohio. This company was owned by Dr. Som R. Soni, a renowned  scientist of Indian Origin, working towards advancing applications of composite materials across  aerospace and other industries through collaborative research with Air Force Research  Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB), Dayton, Ohio. AFRL is one of the largest  defense research facilities in the US and in the world, and is home to many renowned researchers and  scientists in advanced materials including composites. 

As a research scientist at AdTech Systems Research, OH, I acted as Program Manager/Principal Investigator on several advanced research projects involving composite materials with SBIR/STTR funding of more than a million dollars. I successfully led the team of scientists/engineers, to  accomplish projected goals within stipulated time. Furthermore, I planned and wrote technical proposals to successfully attract SBIR/STTR funding of approximately $750 K. My work at AdTech led  to the development of a PC Windows based, user-friendly, software package for stress analysis and strength prediction of bolted and bonded composite joints. I also developed mathematical theories and  computational algorithms for variable-order rectangular, cylindrical and wedge solid elements, and  wrote multiple FORTRAN computer codes to perform 3-D hygrothermomechanical stress analysis of multilayered composite structures. In simple terms, this was equivalent to writing an h-p type finite  element code to specially analyze 3-D state of stress in multilayered composite structures.  

My work experience at AdTech systems prepared me for a prolonged career in research and analysis of advanced composite structures. Through interaction with many pioneers in the field of composites  such as Dr. James Whitney (author of one of the earliest books on laminated composite plates, and of  Whitney-Nuismer failure criteria), Dr. Nicholas J. Pagano (who wrote early classical papers on analyses  of composites and one of the first researchers who mentioned interlaminar stresses in  composites), Dr. Som R Soni (author of Soni-Kim interlaminar failure criteria), Dr. Alexander Bogdanovich (who introduced spline-based techniques for three dimensional analyses of textile and  multilayered composite materials), and Dr. Arvind Nagar (a renowned scientist at AFRL in fracture  mechanics), to name a few, I further honed my skills in the advanced analysis of multilayered composite structures. It was overwhelming to work with and learn from such greats of the time in the  field of composites.  

How did you get your first break in the industry?

While research is a very satisfying experience, it is hard to find a continuous flow of research money in tough economic conditions. As I mentioned earlier, no one knows what road lies ahead and what other  opportunities can open up. The decline in aerospace research fundings in the late 1990s led me to what I now call my detour into non-aerospace industries. I moved to Detroit, Michigan to work for Ford Motor Company, and eventually Visteon Corporation as a Lightweight Structures Specialist, subsequently becoming Technical Fellow of CAE and Optimization for Chassis Advanced Technology  Group.  

At Visteon Corporation, I was part of the team created to research advanced composite materials and technologies for a pick-up truck chassis application for the first time in the automotive industry. As  part of the technology demonstration, the team converted an existing Dodge Dakota Sports Cab pickup truck into an all-composite truck showcasing carbon/epoxy based chassis parts and driveshaft,  glass/epoxy sandwich pick-up box and leaf-springs, and metal-matrix composite brake rotors. As part of the team, I provided extensive technical expertise and guidance in the material characterization, design, optimization and testing of lightweight automotive structures and components manufactured  from advanced fibrous composite materials such as Glass and Carbon/Epoxy. I mentored stress  engineers in analysis and testing of composite materials and assisted senior management in  understanding the technicalities of design and analysis of composite materials. The article about Visteon’s research work was published in the April 2004 issue of SAE Automotive Engineering Magazine through an interview given by me to SAE after my conference paper presentation.

As part of the future vision to enhance applications of composites in the automotive industry, a parallel effort was undertaken to advance and develop the commercial software available for  analysis and design of composite structures. To further that goal, I conceived, obtained funding and  monitored research projects in collaboration with the US universities such as University of Florida (Prof. Rafael T. Haftka), Gainesville, on hybrid composite material optimization using a probabilistic  optimization technique “Genetic Algorithm”, Virginia Tech (Profs. Eric R. Johnson, Dave Dillard and  Rakesh Kapania), Blacksburg, to develop material models and progressive damage analysis algorithms to analyze 2-D woven and braided textile composite structures using commercial finite element codes such as ABAQUS, and Wayne State University, Detroit (Prof. Ron Gibson), on analysis of grid-stiffened  composite structures. These professors have done pioneering research in the advancement of  composites across many industries. Furthermore, in early 2000s the I initiated, obtained funding, monitored projects, and provided technical expertise and guidance to software suppliers such as Altair engineering, ESI and VR&D (now OmniQuest) to enhance their capabilities to support pre- and post-analysis of composite designs and perform discrete ply-optimization. 

As part of the US Department of Energy’s USCAR program initiative starting late 1990s for lightweight automotive designs to reduce carbon emissions, I represented Visteon on the Energy Management  Group of the Automotive Composite Consortium where I led a $1.5M multi-agency effort consisting of automotive OEMs, Universities, and DOE labs to develop comprehensive methodology to analyze and design automotive composite bonded structures for crash energy absorption. The industry university collaborative research provided critical research funds to many graduate students to pursue Masters’ and PhD degrees through the DOE grants. 

One of my managers told me once that all good things don’t last forever. This could not be truer in this case since the automotive industry started to see a decline in revenue in the early 2000s and once again, the research money started to shrink fast. That led to shutting down of the composite research work at Visteon Chassis systems and I had to realign myself with the systems and NVH related research and product development work for pick-up trucks, which was the need of the hour. This was a huge challenge for  me, to move away from composites and structures, and towards more mechanical and electromechanical engineering work in steering, brakes, and axle-driveline. Obviously, at that time, I was not happy about these unintentional and forced changes. However, I can say now that every  challenge provides an opportunity as well! This change provided me an opportunity to reinvent myself as  a multidisciplinary engineer. I realigned myself into broader Computer Aided Engineering (CAE), Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization (MDO), and Design for Six-Sigma (DFSS) specialist.  

During the next two-three years at Visteon, I led the Chassis NVH (Noise, Vibration & Harshness) & Advanced Technology team in the  multidisciplinary analysis (structural, thermal, NVH, dynamics, electromagnetic and coupled flow-heat  transfer) and optimization of automotive chassis products. I also led the Technical Design Reviews, providing leadership and technical skills to CAE engineers. I also chaired and organized the global Visteon CAE Users’ Group Meeting at a larger scale collaborating with all divisions of Visteon Corporation. I was also a team member of Visteon CAE-PLM integration and Numerically Intensive  Computing (NIC) infrastructure planning committees providing my expertise and technical guidance to the group.  

My passion and desire to get back into composite materials and structures never faded away. In 2006,  I got an opportunity to work for General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, MI as an Engineering Specialist where I provided technical expertise in the application of advanced composites for armored vehicle structures and worked on a few “technology demonstrator” parts for MGS Stryker. Additionally, I performed detailed structural analysis of armored vehicles such as FCS, MGS Stryker, ABRAMS, etc. for mobility and ballistic shock loads, and performed material trade-off studies for  lightweight designs. While I got to work on interesting concepts and applications of composites in  armored vehicles, my desire to get back to my core expertise in aerospace structures remained.  

After a very short stint at General Dynamics Land Systems, I accepted an opportunity to work for Spirit  AeroSystems (Ex-Boeing), Wichita, Kansas in their R&D team. 

What would be a “defining” moment in your career in Composites and Aerospace?

As destiny would have it, after a few  months in the R&D department, where I participated in Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) strategy team to enhance and support  development of integrated stress and design tools to reduce Non-recurring Product Development  (NRPD) costs, I was asked to lead and develop a team of stress analysts to support A350XWB twin aisle aircraft Forward Leading Edge (FLE) assembly program outsourced by Airbus UK to Spirit AeroSystems, Wichita for design and build. The FLE assembly consisted of many composite parts, the  largest and most complex of which was the Forward (or Front) spar itself. For aerostructures basics, spars are the key load carrying members of a wing box of an airplane. It turned out to be a very interesting, busy, and challenging program with a tight timeline to design, analyze, build, and deliver  the final product. 

At Spirit AeroSystems, I built and led the team of 25+ stress engineers in three different locations, Wichita, KS, Bristol, UK and Infosys, Bangalore to perform detailed structural analyses of composite front spar of Airbus A350XWB airplane. I helped the program management team in creating and  implementing a comprehensive program schedule for stress engineering activities to meet program goals. My roles and responsibilities included resource planning and task allocation for stress  engineers, providing technical expertise and guidance to stress engineers in the use of Airbus  processes and stress analysis tools such as ISAMI, interacting with the customer’s technical staff in the UK and travel on-site to discuss/present stress engineering work to satisfy program milestones such as Gate reviews and Maturity Readiness Levels, preparing and reviewing stress documents & reports  for Airbus approval/structure certification, overseeing contract stress engineering services in the US  & India, working with design / tooling / manufacturing/testing teams as part of an IPT organizational  structure to address composite materials, Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) manufacturing process, spar transportation and wing assembly  issues, leading to the successful completion of Critical Design Review (CDR) milestone for A350XWB  composite front spar as per Airbus program schedule. First flight of A350XWB took place on June 14,  2013, at Toulouse, France.  

The Airbus A350XWB composite front spar assembly design, analysis and manufacturing was technically  very complex and challenging in all aspects and got compounded by the fact that it was fabricated primarily from advanced composite materials such as carbon/epoxy. Design and stress engineering teams are always under constant pressure to minimize and optimize the weight of the airplane to  maximize fuel efficiency and its performance. I learnt many important lessons of practical design and engineering of primary load carrying aircraft components, their manufacturing, FAA/EASA  certification and working on non-conformance issues. Furthermore, this project highlighted the challenges of working with Integrated Product Teams (IPT) in meeting program deadlines and  delivering final products on schedule. 

My three plus years of work experience on the Airbus A350XWB program at Spirit AeroSystems reshaped my career path in the aerospace industry. I continued to look for opportunities to work on aerospace  programs and landed up with my next job as Technical Specialist/Lead/Group Head at Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (GAC), Savannah, GA. Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is a sub-division of  General Dynamics Corporation and is known for its family of private business jets such as G280, G400, G450, G500, G550, G600, G650, G700 and G800 and their variants.  

Can you tell us about your current role?

At GAC, I have spent the past ten plus years working on a new family of clean-sheet twin-engine business jets G500, G600 and G400. As part of the Advanced Aircraft Program stress engineering team,  I led fuselage, mechanical and power plant system stress teams in design evaluation and stress  analysis of various composite assemblies and structures such as Wing-to-Body Fairing composite panels and metallic substructures, pylon fairing composite panels and metallic ribs, dorsal fairing composite panels and metallic ribs, composite floor boards, engine cowl doors and aprons, thrust  reverser doors, service doors, landing gear doors and fairings, inlet cowl, jet pipe, composites pressure  bulkheads and engine beams. My roles & responsibilities included implementing stress engineering  tasks per program schedule to meet PDR/IDR/CDR, Structural tests and Certification, program goals,  resource planning and task allocation for the team, and providing technical expertise and guidance to the advanced aircraft program. I worked with design/manufacturing/testing teams as part of an IPT  organizational structure to address various issues related to production, MRB and FAA certification of business jets. I reviewed FAR 25 certification requirements for composite airframe and powerplant  structures and developed certification test requirements and test plans. I worked closely with FAA  ARs/DERs to show compliance to meet FAR 25 certification requirements for primary and secondary composite airframes and power plant structures leading to the successful completion of first fights for  G500 and G600 on May 18, 2015, and G600 on December 17, 2016, respectively. G400 was unveiled by  Gulfstream on October 4, 2021 and is scheduled to fly sometime in future.  

Apart from leading the stress teams for the aircraft programs, I also contributed to the composite analysis tools & methods development efforts. I am recognized as an Subject Matter Expert (SME) in composites and have mentored many  Engineers in the design,  analysis, manufacturing, quality, and testing of composite structures. Working on new aircraft  programs for Airbus and Gulfstream in the past fifteen years provided me with invaluable professional  experience and made me a better, practical aerospace engineer.  

During all the years of working in industries, I kept my research interest in developing user-friendly  and practical tools for analyzing composite structures. In the past thirty-five years, I have  presented and contributed to international technical conferences organized by AIAA, ASME, SAE, ASC,  etc. I have authored or co-authored numerous technical publications, some of which are published in  renowned international journals and are cited by others. Furthermore, periodically I have worked as  teaching faculty/Adjunct Lecturer for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL and have taught graduate level courses such as Finite Element Method, Structural Dynamics, Engineering  Materials and Structural Health Monitoring, and been thesis advisor for graduate students.  

Tidbits:  

– Witnessed a single-stage metrological satellite/payload launch at VSSC, Trivandrum during my  summer internship 

– Appeared on HAL’s company report cover page in 1983-84

– Flown on test flights of Do-228 aircraft 

– Was an External Examiner for the Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Punjab University,  India 

– Interacted with faculty of Stanford, MIT, Purdue, VT, and others on pioneering work to develop advanced analyses techniques for composite materials 

– Associate Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) 

– Chaired and organized technical sessions in SAMPE, ASME and AIAA Conferences  

 – Refereed technical papers for publications in international journals and conferences  

– Contributed to Article “Visteon research composite chassis” that appeared in Automotive Engineering  International magazine, April 2004 

– Flown in Gulfstream Business jet for company work 

What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them? 

One faces many challenges during professional as well as personal life. Tackling them separately is  an important part of work-life balance. 

As per me the top professional challenges are 

– Understanding expectations of your manager 

– Working as team  

– Producing quality work consistently  

– Clear verbal and written communication skills 

– Time management 

– Understanding dynamics of a company  

– Be a technical leader and understand the nuances of your field of work 

Keeping your passions active is always a challenge which may require you to put in extra efforts and move often 

How does your work benefit society?

My contributions as an engineer to the development of new products and aircrafts benefit society at large. Most of my research in analysis techniques of composite structures has been published and quoted by others regularly. I have been working on transferring my knowledge and expertise gained over forty years through my personal website http://www.3pcomposites.com . The mission of my small business company 3P composites, LLC is to 

– Provide technical expertise in the development of innovative products manufactured from natural and advanced composite materials with emphasis on Producibility, Performance and  Profitability 

– Train engineers across various industries in the broad applications of composite materials, 

– Provide web-based tools and solvers for fast and accurate analysis of composite structures for various applications 

Transfer of knowledge and mentoring/training of future generations of engineers is also one part of our  responsibility towards society. By voluntary teaching and mentoring we give back to society.  

Any Memorable work ?

As an engineer, seeing your work in action is the most memorable thing and is an intangible reward,  be it a physical product in motion or research getting cited, or a software being used. 

My “2 Cents” 

– Enjoy the work you do; Be passionate about it! 

– You are as good as you enter your work facility each day. Yesterday is history!