Contact: Chris Bryant
STARKVILLE, Miss. – A research leader with valuable industrial experience at a global specialty chemicals company has been named research director and chief scientist at Mississippi State’s Advanced Composites Institute.
Wayne Huberty leads ACI’s technical team where he champions the institute’s innovation, design and research and development efforts, said Christopher Bounds, ACI director.
“Dr. Huberty brings superior technical knowledge, excellent leadership skills and a strong work ethic to this leadership position,” Bounds said. “I’m confident these traits will serve well both the ACI team and our research partners.”
The Advanced Composites Institute, home of the Marvin B. Dow Stitched Composite Development Center and strategic partner to the Raspet Flight Research Laboratory, focuses on disruptive innovation in composite design and fabrication. The ACI drives high-utility, strategic composite programs in automotive, aerospace, maritime, human mobility, military protection, sustainable energy and environmental efficiency.
Immediately prior to joining ACI, Huberty held multiple positions of increasing responsibility at Albemarle Corp. He has about a dozen years of technical experience, including chemical synthesis, chemical analytical techniques, plastics processing and physical/mechanical testing. While in industrial research and development, Huberty lead project collaborations between industry and academic laboratories, where he balanced the needs of industrial partners with the labs’ academic requirements.
Huberty earned both his doctorate and master’s in polymer chemistry from Louisiana State University and his bachelor’s in chemistry and biology from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
MSU’s Raspet Flight Research Laboratory is the only institution in the world that is designated both as the FAA’s UAS Safety Research Facility and as official UAS test sites for both the FAA and the Department of Homeland Security. Home to a fleet of the largest and most capable unmanned aircraft in academic use, Raspet has secured more than $50 million in federal research and testing contracts since 2017 and remains a world leader in composite materials research.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.