Thomas M. Kiehne

Dr. Kiehne is currently a Research Engineer at the Applied Research Laboratories and Senior Lecturer with the Mechanical Engineering Department. At the Applied Research Laboratories, he conducts research in system-level thermal management for the US Navy and bio-aerosol sampling and collection for the US Army. This work is conducted through the joint efforts of an interdisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and students who conduct system-level simulations and develop instrumentation systems. For seven years prior to joining the Laboratories, he was a member of the senior technical staff at the Institute for Advanced Technology. At the Institute, he was Director of the Hypervelocity Physics Division where his responsibilities included formation and leadership of the hypervelocity impact and flight physics research groups as well as establishment and operation of the Institute's Hypervelocity Launch Facility, a state-of-the-art impact physics laboratory. For the past 12 years, Dr. Kiehne has also taught and done research in the Thermal-Fluid Systems Group of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas in Austin. Dr. Kiehne joined the University of Texas after a 22-year career in the U.S. Army where he rose to the rank of Colonel. With the Army he established a record of success in various command and staff assignments up to the Field Army level in the United States, Europe, Vietnam, and Korea. In the last fifteen years of service, he specialized in engineering education, research, and management. For seven years, he served as an Assistant and Associate Professor on the faculty of the United States Military Academy where he directed the Thermo-Mechanics and Energy Systems Group in the Mechanical Engineering Department. He was responsible for the instructional content, emphasis, and quality of two large core courses and six senior-level electives including several design courses in an ABET accredited Mechanical Engineering curriculum. He also taught a full course load and pursued research interests with colleagues at the University of Texas. In his final military assignment, Dr. Kiehne worked in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research, Development, and Acquisition with program management duties at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). At DARPA, he was Deputy Director of a Joint Program Office and had responsibility for all administrative, programmatic, and technical matters in a diverse set of programs with about $55M of total budget authority. In this capacity, Dr. Kiehne served as a strong program advocate while providing liaison between DARPA, the Military Services, the U.S. Congress, the Department of Energy, and various industrial, research partners. As senior Army officer at DARPA, he also coordinated the work of all engineers and scientists assigned from the Army.