African American Inventors at NASA

Brand new materials invented at NASA will usher in a future of new machines with morthing parts, remote self-repairing abilities, and synthetic muscles. In honor of Black History Month we have profiled several amazing scientists that are helping to usher in a brand new future that looks awfully bright.

• Robert Bryant headed the team that invented Soluble Imide (LaRC-SI) the self-bonding thermoplastic that received an R&D 100 award for being one of the most significant new technical products of 1994, part of the team that created Macro-Fiber Composite (MFC) the flexible and durable material that uses ceramic fibers, and received the 1996 R&D 100 Award for his role in developing THUNDER technology
• Award winning engineer Joycelyn Harrison is a NASA engineer at the Langley Research Center researching piezoelectric polymer film and developing customized variations of piezoelectric materials (EAP). Joycelyn Harrison has stated, "We're working on shaping reflectors, solar sails and satellites.
• Since coming to work at NASA Langley in 1987, Stanley Woodard has earned many NASA awards. In 1996, Stanley Woodard won the Black Engineer of the Year Award for Outstanding Technical Contributions. In 2006, he was one of four researchers at NASA Langley recognized by the 44th Annual R&D 100 Awards in the electronic equipment category.

Photo Credit: Robert Bryant works on an invention in a lab at NASA's Langley Institute by NASA photographer Sean Smith. Photo Credit: The team of Stanley Woodard won an R&D 100 Award for a wireless sensor system that doesn't need a battery or a receiver by NASA