Al Tobin

Dr. Al Tobin received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Masters in Metallurgy from MIT and his Ph.D. in Metallurgy from Columbia University (1968). He worked 30 yrs as a Senior Staff Scientist at Grumman Corporation in Bethpage where he performed research studies on a wide variety of aerospace and energy related materials-based programs. His 75 published research papers include  studies of ultra-lightweight  structural materials , fracture and fatigue in high temperature titanium alloys for hypersonic vehicles, metal matrix composites, plasma-wall interactions in materials for first wall in fusion reactors, development of cryopumping materials for He in fusion reactors, oxidation resistant coatings, ceramic to metal joining, growth of  diamond films from vapor phase, development of lightweight re-usable thermal protection systems for the Space Shuttle, contamination effects in space satellites, high temperature materials for space propulsion,  fracture in PZT-materials  for smart sensors, and evaluation of  process models for pyrolysis in ceramic-matrix composites for gas turbine engines. He holds 5 US patents.

Since his retirement from Grumman in 1999, Al has been an Assistant Adjunct Professor at SUNYSB where he has been teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses in thermodynamics of materials, chemical engineering thermodynamics, composite materials, kinetics of phase transformations, manufacturing, ceramics and glass, and engineering responses to society.