Materials for Lightweight Vehicle Design-AERIM REU Program Seminar

Yesterday the REU students got to attend an AERIM REU program seminar that was co-sponsored by the OU SAE chapter and which was also opened to the OU community. The presentation titled “Materials for Lightweight Vehicle Design”, was presented by Dr. David Wagner as part of the SAE Industrial Lectureship Series. Dr. Wagner is a Technical Leader in Materials & Manufacturing Research & Advanced Engineering at Ford Motor Company where he helps shepherd cutting edge technologies developed by Ford researchers to the company's products and conducts his own research in the areas of lightweight vehicle structures.  He has been at Ford for twenty-five years in research and advanced engineering, working on lightweight vehicle design, durability, noise, vibration and harshness (NVH), safety, materials and CAE modeling.  Recently he and his team helped develop the lightweight frame and aluminum cab and cargo box for the 2015 F-150. He researches future uses of magnesium and carbon fiber through the United States Automotive Materials Partnership (USAMP) with colleagues from China and Canada. Dr. Wagner holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University in Mechanical Engineering 1990, and Civil Engineering degrees (M.S.C.E ‘82 and B.S.C.E. ‘80) from the University of Notre Dame. He has over 20 patents and over 50 publications.