Technology and the Future Warrior: Protecting Soldiers in the 21st Century

Thursday, September 23, 2004
MIT's Kresge Auditorium

 

View the broadcast

Also: Opportunities for Entrepreneurs in the Area of Soldier Technology

 

The United States military spends billions of dollars developing aircraft, ships and weapons systems, but its most valuable resource is its soldiers.

Through rapid advances in new and developing technologies like autonomous battle suits, ultra far-forward medical care, wearable computers and miniaturization, the U.S. Army is looking to increase the protection and survivability of the men and women in uniform. Best of all, there is lots of government money looking for solutions.

The MIT Enterprise Forum is pleased to present "Technology and the Future Warrior: Protecting Soldiers in the 21st Century." The program details the ground-breaking work being done via MIT's Institute of Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) and the Army's Future Force Warrior Technology Program Office (FFW TPO), while also touching on how entrepreneurs can be at the forefront of these kinds of developments and technologies.

This is a fascinating overview of the cutting edge work being done in areas like ballistics and blast protection, chemical resistance, low power electronics and the future of the military thanks to technology.

Speaker Biographies

Edwin (Ned) Thomas is Director of the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) and a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. Thomas is actively involved in research at ISN, serving as co-leader of two teams focused on Energy Absorbing Materials, and Integration and Transitioning of Technology Systems. Thomas is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has won the High Polymer Physics Prize, and the Creative Polymer Chemist Award. Before MIT, Thomas taught at the University of Massachusetts and has been a visiting professor at universities in France, England, Germany and Minnesota. Thomas is co-founder of OmniGuide Communications, an optical fiber company, holds six patents, and is author of 300 papers and the collegiate textbook The Structure of Materials. He received a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts and a Ph.D. from Cornell.

Jean-Louis "Dutch" DeGay has been an Equipment Specialist with the U.S. Army's Future Force Warrior Technology Program Office (FFW TPO) since 2001. DeGay develops new items for soldiers, and addresses all systems that interact with the soldier. He also runs the Future Force Warrior Outreach Program. Before joining FFW TPO, DeGay was with the Marine Corps Customer Team working on clothing and individual items for soldiers. He was a Captain with 10 years of service in the United States Army in a number of assignments. DeGay has a B.A. from the University of Georgia and is currently studying for his M.S. at Western New England College. He is a graduate of, among others, Airborne School, the Bradley Leader's Course and Ranger School from his time in the military.

Steve Altes '84 (moderator) earned three degrees (a bachelor's and two masters) from MIT. He is a co-recipient of the National Medal of Technology, the nation's highest award for engineering achievement, for his work on Pegasus, the world's first privately-developed space launch vehicle. He is the author of two books and his work has appeared in such places as Salon, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Christian Science Monitor. Altes currently resides in Los Angeles, where he optioned an MIT-themed screenplay to a major Hollywood producer this year.