Professor Werner J.A. Dahm appointed Chief Scientist of U.S. Air Force

Professor Werner J.A. Dahm has been named the Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force.

He will take a leave of absence from his position as Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan to begin his new position at the Pentagon in October.

As Chief Scientist, Dr. Dahm will be the principal science and technology advisor to the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. As a member of the Air Staff, the Chief Scientist provides assessments to the Air Force leadership on a wide range of scientific and technical issues that affect the Air Force mission. He also is a member of the executive committee of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, and works in coordination with the Air Force Research Laboratories and with the nation’s industrial and university research communities to address issues relevant to the Air Force.

The Air Force has a total research and development budget of over $24 billion in FY2008, and an acquisition budget of nearly $34 billion. It is composed of over 330,000 active duty members, 143,000 civilian employees, and 193,000 reserves and air national guard.

According to Dr. Dahm, “The Air Force today must rely more than ever on leading-edgetechnologies to accomplish its mission. My role is to help the Air Force gets the most itcan out of its science and technology investments.” He will also be spending part of histime visiting Air Force sites around the country and the world. “The view of science andtechnology that one gets in this position is absolutely amazing,” Dahm says.

Dr. Dahm has 30 years experience in science and technology, including defense science. For the past three years he has served as a member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), where he chaired two major studies on spectrum management and thermal management and was a member of two further SAB studies. He also chaired SAB science and technology reviews of propulsion and air vehicles work in the Air Force Research Laboratories, and served on the recent SAB review of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. He has also served on four studies for the Defense Science Board (DSB), and as a member of the Defense Science Study Group (DSSG). He has also previously worked as a research engineer at the Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Center.

He received his doctoral degree from Caltech in 1985, and his masters and undergraduate degrees respectively from the University of Tennessee Space Institute and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. For the past 23 years, Dr. Dahm has researched and taught at Michigan in areas related primarily to fluid dynamics, aerodynamics and propulsion.

He is an author of over 180 technical publications, and has given more than 220 technical presentations worldwide, including over 100 invited and plenary lectures. Dr. Dahm is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA), a recipient of the William F. Ballhaus Aeronautics Prize from Caltech and of the 1938E Distinguished Achievement Award and the George J. Huebner Research Excellence Award from the University of Michigan.