Faculty
Greg McKenna
Dr. Gregory B. McKenna
Horn Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
Texas Tech University
6th and Canton
Mail Stop 3121
Lubbock, TX 79409-3121
(806) 742-4136
Personal Information:
Subsequent to receiving his Bachelors
degree in Engineering Mechanics at
the U.S. Air Force Academy, Gregory
B. McKenna went on to MIT where, in
1971, he earned a Masters Degree in
the area of composite materials before
entering on active duty as a test and
evaluation engineer at Hill Air Force
Base in Ogden, Utah. While in Utah,
he completed his higher education by
earning a Ph.D. in Materials Science
and Engineering at the University of
Utah in 1976. Dr. McKenna then moved
to the then National Bureau of Standards
as a National Research Council Postdoc
and then accepted a permanent position
as a staff scientist at NBS (now NIST).
Since then, Dr. McKenna has earned
a reputation as a pioneering researcher
in four major areas of polymer and
plastics science and technology: Physical
Aging and Structural Recovery of Polymer
Glasses, Solid Mechanics and Nonlinear
Viscoelasticity of Polymers, Thermodynamics
and Mechanics of Elastomers and Gels,
Molecular Rheology. He was the head
of the Structure and Mechanics Group
in the Polymers Division at NIST from
August, 1992 until July, 1999 when
he became Professor in Chemical Engineering
at Texas Tech University.