Advanced Composite Materials in Lightweighting Turbines

John Dorgan
The David L. and Denise M. Lamp Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering
Michigan State University

John R. Dorgan is an expert in polymeric materials and a nationally recognized leader in developing composite materials for manufacturing. He led the technical effort in developing composite materials for wind turbines as part of the federal Institute for Advanced Composite Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI).

He has received more than $10 million dollars in research funding from the National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Energy, and U.S. Department of Agriculture.

He has developed new computer simulation algorithms and theory to explain the phenomena of molecular-weight-based migration in flowing polymers. One of his on-going projects is the optimization of biodegradable polymer fibers for use in hydraulic fracturing operations.

Dorgan is a past president of the Bioenvironmental Polymer Society.  He led a successful effort to organize C2B2, an industry sponsored research center involving faculty and staff members from the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado State University, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Dorgan received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering summa cum laude from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1986) and his doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley (1991). Additionally, Dorgan completed postdoctoral studies at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany.

Also see … MSU’s Dorgan Working to Reduce Wind Turbine Costs