WORKS AND CAPABILITIES AT MISSOURI S&T (ROLLA)

Missouri S&T has a long tradition as a leading academic institution in training and educating the world's experts in explosives engineering. Current offerings include Graduate and Undergraduate explosives certificates, an explosives engineering minor, an Explosives Engineering MS and PhD (titled Explosives Engineering). Under the wing of the Missouri S&T Mining Department, the rapidly expanding program focuses on broad industry and student needs, offering coursework covering the use of explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics in mining, construction, defense, homeland security, demolition, oil recovery, fireworks, and special effects. S&T annually runs hands-on "explosives camp" for high school students, which resulted in our experimental mine topping Popular Science's 'awesome labs' ranking for back to back years. Missouri S&T focuses its research capabilities in explosives under the Rock Mechanics and Explosives Research Center. Currently S&T is constructing a new building to serve as the Explosives Research Facility dedicated to explosives research, training and education. This state-of-the-art facility provides a venue for corporate, government and educational research that allows customers to receive quality data while giving students and faculty the opportunity to experiment. The building houses scientific instrumentation for explosives testing. Included are two blast chambers, high-speed cameras, safety and handling test equipment and several measurement devices. A new blast chamber, capable of containing an 8-pound high explosive detonation will soon be operable. The ERF is operated under the guidance of Dr. Catherine Johnson. Explosives work also enjoys the advantages of the campus Experimental Mine facility, which allows for both open air and subsurface empirical testing of energetic materials and their effects on infrastructure. Military ranges at nearby US Army base Fort Leonard Wood are borrowed for upscaling to fullscale blasting. Missouri S&T has been able to conduct both commercial and federal funded investigations at these sites. Missouri S&T is one of 23 university partners in a national initiative to reinvent manufacturing through Digital Labs as part of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. With leading researchers and facilities for additive manufacturing, microand nano-manufacturing, and sensor-enabled intelligent manufacturing, Advanced Manufacturing at Missouri S&T is working on a variety of metals, composites and protocols but has not focused specifically on energetic materials.

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STEVE TUPPER works in the Office of Sponsored Programs at Missouri S&T and serves as the University Liaison to Fort Leonard Wood. Tupper is a graduate of the US Military Academy, holds a MSEE from Georgia Tech as well certificates from various Army and Corps of Engineer educational programs. Tupper served in the US Army Corps of Engineers for 26 years at various capacities and levels. He has been a Professor of Military Science at WPI and an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Military Academy.