A Distinguished Alumnus: Dr. Ravinder Chona

Dr. Ravinder Chona, a member of the scientific and professional cadre of senior executives, is Senior Scientist for Structural Integrity, Air Vehicles Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Dr. Chona leads, performs and participates in research and development activities conducted within the Center of Excellence in Structural Sciences. His primary responsibilities are: to ensure the Air Force has the capabilities in place to provide the war-fighter with structurally-sound and affordable vehicles and platforms appropriate to the long-term needs and demands of future mission requirements and challenges; and to transition basic research results and state-of-the-art developments in structural integrity and reliability to the aerospace industry.

Dr. Chona holds a doctorate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland. His personal areas of expertise are engineering design methods, experimental solid mechanics, fracture and failure mechanics, and optical mechanics. Dr. Chona joined the AFRL in 2003, following 16 years on the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. In this position, Dr. Chona was involved in graduate and undergraduate educational programs in engineering science, engineering mechanics and engineering design. He has conducted research and has provided educational guidance to graduate students; developed and delivered continuing education programs in fracture mechanics and design; and established a record of professional service and technical leadership at the national and international level. Among his more notable, recent technical contributions are the development of crack-tip stress field representations and experimental tools for improved understanding of the interactions between the fields surrounding multiple cracks in finite geometries; the experimental characterization of the interface crack-tip fields associated with thermal barrier coatings on metallic substrates subjected to transient thermal loads and extreme environments; and the development of non-contact, real-time, laser-fiber-optic sensors that exploit laser-induced guided waves and simultaneous time-frequency analyses to provide new tools for non-destructively interrogating materials and structures.

Dr. Chona has written or co-written numerous technical publications in peer-reviewed journals, peer-reviewed archival monographs, and conference proceedings. He is the presenter of both invited and contributed papers at national and international meetings; has edited three archival monographs; serves on the editorial boards of two major international journals; and has organized and served as chair on national and international technical programs and symposia. Dr. Chona supervised seven doctoral dissertations, 16 masters degree theses, and more than 25 industrially-sponsored senior and graduate design projects.

For More Information, Read the Air Force Webpage about Dr. Chona.

Published September 15, 2004