Consultant, Kevin Kennedy Associates Inc.
Providing expertise in product research and development, materials analysis, structural analysis, process optimization, engineering mechanics and chemistry, systems engineering / integration, sensor systems integration, and related expertise to a wide variety of clients.
Consultant, scientific analytics firm
Provided consulting for a Bay Area
Medical Device Manufacturing Company. Responsibilities included optimizing and debugging device assembly/integration. Worked to maximize yield and minimize potentially hazardous materials from leach out of the device. Work included reverse engineering of polymers for ISO 10993 and Class VI applications; Qualitative and Quantitative analysis of leachable and outgassing materials from polymeric material candidates.
Consultant, Medium Sized Bay Area Pharmaceutical Company
Worked with the project lead to develop experimental designs for process optimization, provided support on materials selection per USP Class VI and ISO-10993. Performed mechanical design analysis. Supported qualitative and quantitative materials composition analysis including GC/MS headspace (for outgassing), DSC, TGA TOF-SIMS, FTIR.
Senior Staff Engineer, ATK Launch Systems Division, Brigham City, UT
Served as a member of the Insulation Design and Structural Analysis Group. Was technical lead for grain and Propellant /Liner/Insulation analysis. Developed nonlinear viscoelastic anisotropic material model (in MathCad) for PBI fiber reinforced NBR insulation for use in the prediction of strain rate dependent fracture initiation and strain rate dependent structural analysis including rate dependent damage. Derived and evaluated Simulia's Hyperelastic anisotropic UMAT and modified for damage. Conducted structural analysis of full scale Shuttle rocket motor to compute stress intensity factor for included voids to address manufacturing discrepancy. Developed new business opportunities. Assembled a proposal team and authored a white paper to the NRO DII describing a novel method of manufacturing high reliability cost effective highly reliable optical assembly subsystems. Other accomplishments included design of mirror mounts to minimize bending moments, use of UV curable adhesives to rapidly align and fix optical components, use of standard assembly and test station, and low cost use of prototypes to demonstrate maturity of design, materials and processes. Was favorably reviewed by NRO Optics lead. Successfully marketed and developed novel UV curable Low observable coating to Northrop Grumman. Involved in developing UV curable LO gap filler and coating under IR&D. Derived the chemical constraint equation for the Design of Experiments (DOE). Executed to Experimental Plan on budget and schedule. Optimized the formulation using statistical methods. Worked with the VP of Business Development to develop a novel laser protection system for Space and Terrestrial applications. Wrote a white paper with a development plan, cost and schedules for partnering with Space Dynamics Laboratory SDL. AFRL reviewed the white paper and reported that "it has merit". Also reviewed by space counter-measures group. Rorged a working relationship between the SDL and ATK (former competitors) resulting in the bidding of a bus for SDL's EO/IR GIFTS imager payload.
Senior Staff Systems Engineer, ITT Space System Division, Rochester, NY
Served as lead systems engineer in Specialty Engineering organization. Acted as technical lead for approximately 10 Ph.D., MS and BS chemists, engineers and physicists. EO/IR Programs included Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), VIIRS, NextView, WorldView, E262, E270, E200, E350. Classified and special access programs. Developed contamination requirements for optical components based on existing analysis method including bidirectional reflectivity distribution function BRDF and analysis methods. Developed advanced analysis methods for evaluating the effect of surface contamination on optics. Derived a micro-mechanical model (in MathCad) to estimate particle shedding from non-optical surfaces during launch. Statistically quantified cleaning process on particle distribution and spatial distributions. Authored Requirements Verification Matrix to ensure requirements were met. Mentored and taught other engineering professionals.
Member of the Technical Staff in the Passive Component Design Group, Microelectronics Groups of Lucent Technologies/ Bell Laboratories, Allentown, PA
Worked as a systems engineer and interfaced with optical physicists to establish project requirement for mounting micro-optics on a generic optical bench. Developed advanced optical interferometric methods for screening of dual curing UV/thermal adhesive materials. Developed advanced surface treatments for dimensional stability, environmental durability (temperature humidity cycling, shock/vibration) per Telecordia 1221 and 1209. Worked with manufacturing engineers to define an initial manufacturing process then executed lean six sigma experimental design to model the assembly process and optimized the assembly process for high volume manufacturing (14,000/year). Audited vendors to provide cleaning and surface treatment services to control inventory.
Supervisor, Polymer Core Technology, Corning Incorporated, Corning, NY
Worked in the Polymer Core Technology group to develop new applications for polymers Opto-electronics. Developed low cost polymer alternative to humidity sensitive negative expansion ceramic materials for packaging of athermalized Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG). Formulated fluorinated polymers for UV curable optical path adhesives. Worked to ruggedized commercial LCD display design and manufacturing processes to meet Telecordia 1221 and 1209 environmental durability and signal stability requirements. Invented family of contamination insensitive adhesive materials. Filed 9 patent applications.
Sr. Principal Engineer Grain Structures Analysis, Thiokol Propulsion, Brigham City, UT
Worked in the Grain Structures Group. Performed analysis on Propellant/Liner/Insulation. Documented results in technical reports. Conducted engineering peer reviews. Defended results of analysis in Program reviews. Discovered and patented an environmentally friendly sol-gel surface treatment for simultaneously cleaning and preparing metal surface for bonding. Was recognized Nationally by the American Chemical Society for this work as a "Hero of Chemistry" - in use on 1st Minuteman. Demonstrated on High Speed Civil Transport TiGr composites. Synthesized the 1st high temperature PETI V organofunctional silane primer. Performed Finite Element Analysis of Propellant Liner Insulation bondlines in support of RSRM. Designed and patented a bonded (expandable during motor operation) end closure for low cost manufacturing of tactical rocket motors - supports over 10000 psi internal pressure. Currently in full production at the ABL Rocket Center W. Virginia.
