(See Projects story on the Composite Truck Box.)

Where are you from originally?
I'm originally from New York City (Queens) and went to college and graduate school in Massachusetts.

What prompted you to study science?
When I was in school, the space program was in its early, enthusiastic and hopeful phase. I wanted to be an astronaut. At the time, I thought you had to be a scientist to be an astronaut. I was wrong - you had to be a test pilot. Now, of course, a scientist/specialist can be an astronaut. But I thought the space program was very exciting and romantic, so I studied science. I found it interesting and stayed with it.

How did you become interested in polymer science?
graduated from college (chemistry major) and then went to MIT to study inorganic chemistry. But I found that type of chemistry very "ivory tower"; it wasn't immediately apparent to me how I would use it. Now I see it as practical, but that wasn't clear to me during my first year in graduate school.

After a year at MIT, I decided my program wasn't a good fit. I wanted to work on things that have a reason for being - where you can tell what people want to do with them. That's definitely true of polymers; I had taken a course in them as an elective during my last year at Mount Holyoke College. So I applied to University of Massachusetts in Polymer Science and Engineering and continued there until I earned my Ph.D. That was a good choice.

How did you end up at GM R&D?
A friend at the University of Massachusetts worked in the automotive industry before returning to school to get his graduate degree. He suggested that I look into the industry.

Were you interested in cars at all?
No, not at that time. But I am now.

What did you work on when you started at R&D?
In one way or another, I've been working on adhesive bonding since I've been here. Not formulating adhesives - that's not what we do. Rather we try to understand their properties, behavior, and applications. Over the years, I've looked at joint fracture and bonding steel, thermoplastics, and thermoset composites, and now we're going back to thermoplastics. We look closely at issues of durability and fatigue. When a material changes over time and with environmental exposure, its properties and performance also change. This may alter how you choose to use the material.

Right now, the auto companies are interested in making everything lightweight to improve fuel economy. They want to try new lightweight materials in the body and frame and even in some of the engine structures. For assembly, you can weld steel, of course, and you can weld aluminum, although it's more difficult, but you don't want to weld polymer composites. You need another method of fastening to use these new lightweight materials, and adhesive bonding is one of the potential joining/fastening methods.

Why is bonding important for these new lightweight materials?
The need is for structural bonding - we're not just bonding on trim or side molding or mirrors. We're talking about primary structures where load transfer is critical to vehicle performance. The structural adhesive keeps the car intact around you if you're in a crash, so performance of the adhesive joint is absolutely critical.

This is a major area of focus for General Motors as well as for the Automotive Composites Consortium (ACC). I was originally part of the ACC's Joining Group, then I became Joining Workgroup Chair. But that leads us back to the composite pickup truck box.

How did work with ACC contribute to the composite pickup box?
The ACC workgroups do the fundamental work that supports focal projects where we actually build something and demonstrate it. The second focal project was a composite pickup box. The whole point of the ACC is that we work on projects that are risky, that companies choose not to finance by themselves. Then all the companies can take what they've learned back home for their own projects and products. A lot of what we learned at ACC - particularly about composite bonding - went into the GM composite pickup box. I also learned a lot about pickup trucks.

What did you learn about trucks?
The first time I got a big truck to drive, I was very intimidated by it. About 30 seconds later, I decided I loved it and wanted one for my own … unfortunately the one I really want won't fit in my garage. I'm driving one of our composite box trucks now and I like it. You discover all the places you don't like to go because it's difficult to park such a large vehicle, but other than that it's fun. And the performance of the composite box is very impressive!

Are you continuing the work on adhesive bonding?
Yes. I'm still working with the ACC Joining Group. We have some joint modeling projects and now the ACC is pursuing Focal Project three, which involves carbon-reinforced composites for body structures. My GM work involves joining projects for other vehicle applications. We're starting to look at thermoplastic composites and their joining and assembly.

What excites you most about your research?
Getting that truck box into production. As it turns out, the culmination of the decision I made over 20 years ago to study polymers - because they had a use that you can see and touch and hold - is the composite pickup truck box.

In research you're usually too far away from the product to get that feeling. But we participated directly in the truck program and had real, concrete input. Everyone on the team is very proud and excited about the truck. Plus, this work opens up the field - now we feel like we can make anything.

What's a typical day like for you?
I spend a lot of time on the phone, answering e-mails, attending meetings, and - due to my work with ACC - coordinating work among different people and facilities, including Ford and DaimlerChrysler, the national labs, universities, and government agencies. Occasionally I get into the lab, make samples, and bond and test them. Then there's also data analysis and research planning and report writing and giving presentations. Sometimes I get a chance to learn new techniques: I've been involved in nondestructive testing, a really hot field with plenty going on every day.

Really, every day is very diverse, which is what makes it interesting. My things-to-do list is long enough that if I don't want to work on the task at hand, I can easily find something else that needs my attention. There's definitely more to do than there is time to do it.

What are your other research interests?
Well, I do still follow the space program.

Do you see yourself as part of the space program one day?
Several years ago a person here at GM R & D had a project that was going up on the space shuttle. I thought that was really exciting. Maybe I should start thinking, again, about a materials project for a weightless environment.