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2001 ASC 16th Technical Conference Recap – Blacksburg, VA

By Navid Zobeiry, Communications Editor, American Society for Composites, Last updated: May 11, 2025

The 16th Annual Technical Conference of the American Society for Composites was held from September 10–12, 2001, at the Donaldson Brown Center on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. The event was co-chaired by Prof. Michael W. Hyer and Prof. Alfred C. Loos and hosted by the Virginia Tech Center for Composite Materials and Structures.

With 188 technical papers presented, the conference emphasized critical topics such as FRP infrastructure systems, optimal design methodologies, polymer nanocomposites, sandwich structures, residual stress, and health monitoring. Sessions ran in parallel across multiple rooms, spanning over 30 thematic areas including automotive, fatigue, biocomposites, and multifunctional composites.

For more information:

Plenary Lectures

  • Leo Christodoulou (DARPA) – Multifunctional Composites
  • John Hooks (FHWA) – Innovative Materials for Bridges of the 21st Century
  • Mark Shuart (NASA Langley) – Design and Manufacture of Large Scale Composite Structures for Aerospace Application
  • Rodney Ruoff (Northwestern University) – Nanocomposites

Highlighted Themes and Topics

Common session topics included:

  • Vinyl ester systems, sandwich construction, and bonded joints
  • Infrastructure composites and bridge decks
  • Residual stress modeling and liquid molding processes
  • Nanocomposites, multifunctional materials, and energy harvesting
  • Fatigue, fracture, and structural health monitoring
  • Biocomposites and environmental durability
Word Cloud – ASC 2001

2001 Word Cloud highlighting dominant themes in ASC 16 technical papers.

Top Contributing Authors

  • Julio F. Davalos – 5 papers
  • Michael W. Hyer – 4 papers
  • Lawrence T. Drzal – 4 papers
  • John J. Lesko – 4 papers
  • Hiroyuki Hamada – 4 papers

Awards and Recognition

  • ASC Fellows:
    • Dr. R. Byron Pipes (The College of William and Mary)
    • Dr. Tsu-Wei Chou (University of Delaware)
  • Outstanding Researcher Award: Dr. T. Kevin O'Brien (US Army Research Laboratory)
  • CRC Award in Composites: Dr. Michael W. Hyer (Virginia Tech)
  • Ph.D. Research Scholarship: Seth Kessler (MIT)

Organizing Committee

  • Conference Co-Chairs: Prof. Michael W. Hyer, Prof. Alfred C. Loos (Virginia Tech)
  • Committee Members: D. Baird, R. Batra, S. Case, Z. Gürdal, R. Kapania, J. Lesko, E. Johnson, R. Jones, K. Reifsnider

Reference

  1. Proceedings of the 16th Technical Conference of the American Society for Composites, Blacksburg, VA, 2001.