John J. Engblom, P.E., PhD

John J. Engblom, P.E., PhD, is a graduate of Villanova University (BS 1963), Drexel University (MS 1967) and UCLA (PhD 1974). He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Florida. Dr. Engblom began his professional career in 1963 and spent his first 18 years working for five major U.S. corporations. He first worked as a Design Engineer for Westinghouse Electric Corp. where he was responsible for the design, analysis and testing of industrial gas turbine components. He then worked as a Research and Development Engineer at the General Dynamics Corp. where he performed structural dynamic analysis of submarine piping systems and developed computer software related to the study of acoustic radiation. Dr. Engblom moved to the Hughes Aircraft Co. in 1968 and served as a Member of the Technical Staff and also as a Technical Group Head. His duties involved the structural analysis of avionic and satellite systems. He developed computational design methods, performed analysis/test correlations and directed a technical group in these areas. After a short stay with the Rockwell International Corp. as a Member of the Technical Staff, Dr. Engblom joined Pratt and Whitney Aircraft and where he worked in a Senior Research Position. He had responsibility for developing computational methods utilized in the design of polymer and metal matrix laminated composite hardware for jet engines.

Dr. Engblom joined academia in 1981 when he joined the faculty of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University where he earned tenure as an Associate Professor. He spent nine years at Texas A&M before joining the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the Florida Institute of Technology as a Full Professor. He served as Department Head foe several years before retiring in 2004. Dr. Engblom is presently Professor Emeritus of the Florida Institute of Technology. He has performed extensive research throughout his academic career primarily focusing on characterizing the mechanical behavior of structures made of advanced composite materials. Dr. Engblom has both presented and published extensively since joining academia. His research has been supported by a number of entities, including the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, NASA, Bell Helicopter Textron, General Dynamics Corp., McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Co., National Science Foundation and the Florida Solar Energy Center. During his tenure in academia, Dr. Engblom also acted as a self-employed consultant to industry.