{"497711":{"#nid":"497711","#data":{"type":"news","title":"AE Alumnus Thomas Christian Talk with GT on Future Projects","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Aerospace Engineering alumnus Dr. Thomas Christian was on campus April 20-21 to speak with faculty about identifying opportunities for future scientific collaborations. Now the director of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research,\u0026nbsp;Christian earned his undergraduate, masters and doctorate from GTAE.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn his current position, Christian is responsible for managing the basic research investment for the entire United States Air Force, overseeing a $510 million annual investment portfolio.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EChristian\u0027s visit kicked off at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) with a briefing on various research initiatives in a meeting led by Dr. Stephen Cross, Georgia Tech Executive Vice President for Research and GTRI Director.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are proud of our alumnus, Dr. Thomas Christian, for the many important civilian leadership positions he has held in the United States Air Force, including since November 2014 as the director of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research,\u0022 said Cross.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTom\u0027s infectious enthusiasm for high quality scientific and technological pursuit coupled with innovative exploration to translate research results into use is inspirational. We appreciated the time he took to visit us, especially the time he spent with our young investigators.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EChristian then made several stops around campus, including a briefing with the School of Aerospace Engineering, where he met with RECONSO PI Dr. Marcus Holzinger and school chair Dr. Vigor Yang. He also spoke with experts from the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnologies, the Manufacturing Institute, and the Institute for Materials.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EChristian capped off his visit by meeting with several faculty and staff for a discussion on how to attract graduate students for post-doctorate work at AFOSR, led by Dr. Laurence Jacobs, associate dean of the College of Engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech has a long history of supporting AFOSR and the Air Force\u2019s overall mission. In 2014, AFOSR\u2019s 60th anniversary monograph highlighted two Georgia Tech projects: a technology development program on active flow control concepts for future improvements to the C-17\u2019s propulsion system, and the development of an environmentally friendly aluminum and ice propelled rocket.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech Aerospace Engineering alumnus Dr. Thomas Christian was on campus April 20-21 to speak with faculty about identifying opportunities for future scientific collaborations."}],"uid":"30502","created_gmt":"2016-02-09 17:29:52","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:20:38","author":"Sapna Mistry","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-04-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-04-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"497731":{"id":"497731","type":"image","title":"AE Alumnus Thomas Christian Talk with GT on Future Projects","body":null,"created":"1455130800","gmt_created":"2016-02-10 19:00:00","changed":"1475895256","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:16","alt":"AE Alumnus Thomas Christian Talk with GT on Future Projects","file":{"fid":"204643","name":"04-20-afosr-christian.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/04-20-afosr-christian_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/04-20-afosr-christian_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":80021,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/04-20-afosr-christian_0.jpg?itok=RkbKxVBC"}}},"media_ids":["497731"],"groups":[{"id":"1239","name":"School of Aerospace Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"},{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"124681","name":"AFOSR"},{"id":"506","name":"alumni"},{"id":"126111","name":"GT-AE"},{"id":"3467","name":"Thomas Christian"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["kathleen.moore@ae.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}