Thagard on front line of body armor development By Bayard Stern back. It is designed to block shrap- Managing Editor nel, pistol and some rifle rounds. But it only protects the torso, leav- hile under threat of ing arms and legs exposed. enemy fire in Iraq Thagard wants to remedy this. Wthat could come at He and his team are develop- any time without warning, U.S. ing composite materials that are soldiers there and elsewhere lightweight, tough and can be need all the protection they can molded to be comfortable, yet get. highly effective. Enter James Thagard. He is By using a hybrid recipe of bal- designing bullet-resistant body listic fibers and nano-particle- armor that soon may protect sol- toughened polymers, Thagard has diers’ arms, legs and shoulders. prototyped protection that is light Thagard, an FSU graduate and and nonrestrictive for soldiers. visiting assistant professor at the “I think anybody who meets FAMU-FSU College of Engineer- the soldiers or has just seen pictures ing, is developing both the com- of wounded people with injuries, posite materials and ergonomic including loss of arms and legs, designs for body armor meant to would want to help prevent future work in conjunction with the exist- injuries,” Thagard said. ing protective vests now being Thagard is on the faculty of the used. The U.S. military primarily Florida Advanced Center for uses a vest called the Interceptor Composite Technologies within the that is made of Kevlar fiber and fit- college. He received his master’s ted with ceramic plates in front and (Continued on page 2) s d n u February / March 2005 m d E e l e h c i M / b a L o t o h P U S F Healthy cooking with a dash of ‘cool’ By Vida Volkert Healthy and Being Fabulous!” book,’” O’Neil said. “We wanted Staff Writer Carolyn O’Neil her new book published this ‘The Dish’ to be the very first diet past summer by Simon & book aimed at glamour girls of all rom tasty recipes for Schuster Atria Books. ages and sizes. It’s not just a women on the go to pro- “There is nothing else like this lifestyle, it’s a way of thinking that Ffessional advice on how to written by a credible nutritionist,” can adapt to your unique life and stay fit while still eating rich O’Neil said. your personal tastes.” foods, FSU alumna and former A certified dietitian, O’Neil is a By suggesting what to eat or CNN anchor Carolyn O’Neil public speaker, media consultant drink depending on the kind of serves up “The Dish on Eating and journalist with more than 20 day women are having, the authors years of study and television give a nontraditional approach to S 1 T 6 a u 0 l i l reporting on food, nutrition and the science of nutrition. t 0 a e h R 1 a cuisine. “It’s ‘Sex and the e 0 s d 4 s e Throughout her career report- City’ meets food and B e a , r F ing on food choices, diets and nutrition,” O’Neil b L e r 3 nutrition studies, she has met said. “It has style, a 2 P 3 l 1 a many women — professionals or voice and personality.” 0 z - a 6 not — who want to look their best, Using the lan- 0 6 8 live healthy lifestyles and eat right. guage of pop culture They all seem to agree that most to appeal to the read- diets are hard to integrate into their er, O’Neil has clev- busy schedules, whether dining erly given chap- out with colleagues and clients, or ters names like eating on the run to meet work or “The Dish on family obligations. Cheating.” It gives O’Neil and her co-author, tips on how to stay nutrition writer Densie Webb, healthy while in- wrote “The Dish” for such women dulging in the — acknowledging that dieting occasional order of P P N C O U i e . o r n S A g r n doesn’t have to focus on depriva- French fries or . c m a - i P P n n i I o r t n i tion. slice of cheese- D z o s a # t a f t a i t 2 i t (Continued on g i , 0 o “Women of all ages have been e O 0 n 3 h page 2) i telling us, ‘I don’t want another diet o 2 / FebruaryMarch 2005 FebruaryMarch 2005 / 3 Thagard’s body armor ‘recipe’ has a broad range of potential applications English department finds awards and achievements in publishing degree and a doctorate in industri- said. “We let them know what kind other areas that don’t require ballis- al engineering from FSU. He is of technology we have and showed tic properties. By creating compos- now in his second year working as them our concept pieces of body ites, Thagard can mold these materi- a visiting assistant professor at the armor. They were very receptive als to make orthotics and prosthetics college. s and told us their ideas and what that are stronger, more flexible and d n He started his research by u they were looking for. Not only lighter than current materials. m d “When I visited Walter Reed developing ballistic recipes and E does the extremity protection need e l making flat panels that are used e to have ballistic properties, but we Army Medical Center to discuss h c for ballistic testing. These panels i needed to give it structural proper- uses for our composites in making M were tested in accordance with / ties and protect it from the environ- orthotics and prosthetics, I met b a standards set by the National L ment such as humidity and ultra some folks, many who look like o t Institute of Justice. The recipe he o violet light that degrades ballistic kids, who have been injured and h developed gives the desired ballis- P need help getting on with their U materials. We have to give it wear S Joseph McElrath Julianna Baggott Joann Gardner James Kimbrell Nancy Warren Mark Winegardner tic, wear and environmental pro- F resistance and scuff resistance lives. What I do now can help an tection. From this formula, because it’s going to be worn on the entire generation of people, so it’s By Vida Volkert American literature, textual and national bestseller for publisher poetry, expected in 2006 by times a voice of their own. Warren’s Thagard has developed proto- outside.” important to try and think ahead.” Staff Writer bibliographical studies, and schol- Simon and Schuster –– and a vol- Sarabande. second book based on the same types of the shapes and forms nec- The manufacturing and proto- Thagard already has created arly editing. Donald J. Foss, dean of ume of poetry –– all since 2001. “Of course, writing is a rather research, “Women of God and essary for the development of sol- typing is done at FSU. Thagard functioning orthotics with his Last year was stellar for the Arts and Sciences, called him “the •Associate Professor Joann solitary affair,” Kimbrell said. “The Arms: Female Spirituality and dier extremity protection. makes the composite materials and materials and design. department of English. One profes- perfect choice to carry out this Gardner held her first Runaway support of the judges and their Political Conflict, 1390-c.1600,” is Thagard’s work in this area began forms them into the shapes needed “Craphonso Thorpe (FSU wide sor was chosen to edit a significant responsibility.” with Words poetry-writing work- belief in my work brings me a vital scheduled to be released this with the prototyping of concept to fit a body. Then, ballistics testing receiver) wore a custom composite historical biography. Another wrote •Using the pseudonym “N.E. shop in 1991 at a Panama City shel- source of encouragement and a spring. pieces for the Army Research is done at Armor Holding Inc. brace that we made for him,” he a wildly successful children’s book Bode,” Assistant Professor Julianna ter for runaways and disadvan- sense of community, and that will •Professor of English Mark Laboratory. Thagard showed off some of the said. “The whole area of orthotics is that could be made into a movie. Baggott wrote one of 2004’s best- taged teens. Today, it has its own last far beyond the year for which Winegardner wrote “The God- “We had pitched some of our impressively impenetrable pieces under served. They’re just now try- Another has found increased suc- selling children’s books, “The textbook and is staffed by FSU I’ve been funded.” father Returns,” the sequel to Mario work in composite orthotics and that he has fired into. The simple ing to move towards these more cess running a program that uses Anybodies.” The motion picture graduate and undergraduate stu- Of the 1,600 applicants for this Puzo’s legendary 1969 novel. Its prosthetics to the Army Research looking black squares were marred advanced materials with compos- poetry as a therapeutic outlet for rights have already been purchased dents from the department of year’s fellowship, fewer than 3 per- success has further galvanized his Laboratory, and they definitely by indentations from bullets, and ites because we can tailor the prop- some of life’s most daunting cir- by Nickelodeon Movies and sister English and the Creative Writing cent were funded. stature in creative writing circles. saw a need for some more the remaining fragmented pieces erties, a spring here, stiff here, flexi- cumstances.