3/28/2017 Susan Mumm, Media Specialist
Written by Susan Mumm, Media Specialist
Dr. Bruce Goodwin, Associate Director for National Security Policy Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, will present the H.S. Stillwell Memorial Lecture on Monday, April 24.
Sponsored by Aerospace Engineering at Illinois, Goodwin’s talk, “Additive Manufacturing and High-Performance Computing: Latent Disruptive Technology Impacts on National Security and Nuclear Proliferation,” will be presented at 4 p.m. in 1025 Auditorium, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.
Goodwin will discuss the relationship between advances in Additive Manufacturing (AM, also known as 3D printing) technology and High-Performance Computing (HPC) simulation, and then examine the impact upon national security and nuclear proliferation.
The presentation surveys how AM can accelerate the fabrication process, while HPC combined with Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) fast tracks the engineering design cycle. The combination of AM and HPC/UQ minimizes the iterative engineering design to prototype cycle, dramatically reducing cost of production and time-to-market.
These methods can present great benefits for US national interests, both civilian and military, in an age of austerity. Finally, considering additional cyber security issues such as the cloud, these same technological advantages may well lower the signatures of and accelerate nuclear proliferation, challenging international security.
From 2001 until 2013, Goodwin was the Principal Associate Director for the Nuclear Weapons Program at LLNL. He began his career designing nuclear explosives at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and moved to LLNL in 1985. He has been responsible for the design and analysis of five nuclear tests.
Goodwin earned his PhD in Aerospace Engineering at Illinois in 1982, and his bachelor’s degree in Physics from City College of New York in 1972.
The Stillwell Memorial Lecture honors Prof. H.S. (Shel) Stillwell, who founded the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Illinois in 1944. Stillwell was 27 years old and served as department head for 32 years. He was influential in the design of the first ramjet-powered missile and highly respected for his contributions to aerospace engineering education.