Dr. John Bridge is a Mechanical Engineering professor emeritus at UW Bothell. He is also a former Lt. Colonel and mechanical engineer in the U.S. Air Force with over twenty years of R&D experience with numerous aerospace vehicles to include aircraft and rocket systems. In addition, he has performed advanced materials characterization while in the military and at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He has previous teaching experience at several institutions to include Bowdoin College, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Bridge’s research has included aerospace applications and advanced composites/granular composites in synthetic sports surfaces to include Thoroughbred horse racetracks. His focus in recent years was on the thermal and mechanical characterization of wax/polymer binders, and on the mechanisms of polymer adhesion and environmental degradation. He has performed numerous failure analyses during his military and academic career involving fracture/fatigue of metals, polymers, ceramics and composite materials.