SAMPE Journal - November/December 2021 - 7

Q A
&
with
Raj Manchanda
raj@sampe.org
This January will mark the first anniversary of Raj Manchanda joining SAMPE North America as its Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Manchanda
is responsible for establishing and executing the technological vision for SAMPE North America, leading the Society's technical resource
development, and overseeing technical programming execution, including conference technical programming, seminars, publications, and
online technical content. January 26th
marks the first day of the inaugural Materials Innovation & Advanced Technology Leadership Forum.
Where did you go to school?
I completed my Mechanical Engineering studies at Boston University
and earned an MBA at the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch
College in New York City.
Please share with us how you're using composites in your
current (or recent) work project).
Innovative use cases of composites come across my desk regularly.
I had a chance to visit Airtech and ACPT in Huntington Beach,
California. I learned how Jeff Dahlgren's and Ryan Clampitt's teams,
respectively, are developing new applications with their engineers
and leveraging automation, advances in NDT, additive manufacturing,
and the unique lightweight and high-strength material properties of
composites. SAMPE members and other professionals interested in
maintaining an edge for their businesses can learn from Joby Aviation,
Boeing and a multitude of other leading organizations at the Materials
Innovation & Advanced Technology Leadership Forum in Huntington
Beach, California from January 26-27, 2022. (See page 8 and 9 for
more about the Forum).
What first got you started with SAMPE?
When I started my SAMPE service last January, I reached out to
Robert Brushaber of Texas Research Institute Austin, who serves as
Chair of the Technical Excellence Committee (TEC), and Ted Lynch of
Strategic Marketing Innovations who is the Vice-Chair of TEC. They
introduced me to our technical committees including; Recycling,
Rapid Manufacturing of High-Performance Composites Focus Area,
High Temperature Materials, Composites Factory of the Future -
Industry 4.0, Hybrid and Bonding, and Emerging Technologies. By
collaborating with Dr. Scott Beckwith, SAMPE's Global Technical
Director, our committee chairs, who are recognized subject matter
experts, and SAMPE members, NAEC, BoD, Past Presidents, and
other SAMPE leaders we identified an opportunity to expedite the
industrialization of composites manufacturing and thus we launched
the Materials Innovation & Advanced Technology Leadership
Forum. We plan to convene regularly on an annual basis to gather
multidisciplinary professionals from various industries at our Forum
series and discuss challenges, synergies,
advancements
and
simulation/software contributors. One of our goals is to facilitate the
development of solutions for our industry.
What made you first want to work at SAMPE?
Sustainability is important not only to our nation, but also to our planet
and our global community of experts are steadily developing solutions
for today's challenges through material and process advancements
such as innovations in the recycling of carbon fiber and I wanted to
be a part of that.
Share your favorite SAMPE story or memory:
Zane Clark, SAMPE CEO, presented a brief history of the Society
during the 2021 NeXus event. It was fascinating to learn how SAMPE
has evolved over the years to remain at the forefront of material and
process advances. At the beginning, the Society of Aircraft Material
and Process Engineers, then, the Society of Aerospace Material and
Process Engineering and now, the Society for the Advancement of
Material and Process Engineering.
What takeaways have you learned from your SAMPE work
experiences?
SAMPE's community of experts are global. I've had the opportunity
to participate in virtual Chapter meetings and see the passion that
our members and students have for the profession. The SAMPE
New Jersey Chapter offered webinars throughout July 2021 focusing
on additive manufacturing which was followed by the Additive
Manufacturing Virtual Workshop moderated by Dr. Scott Beckwith.
It's impressive that we can deliver knowledge on relevant topics
through various SAMPE outlets. By the time you receive this edition
of our Journal, the SAMPE Europe team will have concluded the first
in-person conference in nearly two years in Baden, Switzerland. More
than 200 professionals gathered and demonstrated their commitment
to SAMPE at the Trafo Conference Center in Switzerland. I was
particularly impressed with tutorials that offered plant tours so that
applications reinforced principles that were taught. Next year I plan
to join in-person and visit 9T-Labs, FHNW, KATZ Plastics and Training
Technology Center, and Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials
Composites in addition to the exhibiting and sponsoring companies!
How many watched the opening keynote session of Professor
Véronique Michaud, Ecole Polytechnique, Fédérale de Lausanne
(EPFL) at 4 AM ET in New York? I did and it was wonderful!
Through SAMPE's various offerings such as our upcoming inperson
CAMX Expo in Dallas; the Materials Innovation & Advanced
Technology Leadership Forum in Huntington Beach in January 2022;
and our SAMPE Conference in Charlotte in May 2022; I've learned
that SAMPE offers the community a variety of engagement and
learning opportunities and are constantly seeking to improve them. I
look forward to meeting you at one of our global events.
www. sampe.org
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
|
SAMPE JOURNAL |
7
MEMBER NEWS | LEADERSHIP
Chris Locke
Director of Marketing, Membership and Education
+1 626.521.9453

http://www.sampe.org

SAMPE Journal - November/December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SAMPE Journal - November/December 2021