The SBCF Team

Doug Cairns

Director

Doug Cairns is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering of the Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department at MSU and Director of the SBCF Program. Prior to coming to MSU, he was Manager of Composites Technology at Hercules Materials Company (Now Hexcel) where he conducted research on composite materials applied to primary structure. He has a B.S. and M.S. from the University of Wyoming, and a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  

Cambrie Monfort

Program Manager
Cambrie is the Program Manager for the SBCF Program. She has a B.S. in Bioengineering from Arizona State University, a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Davis and a MBA from The Ohio State University.

Chris Ridgard

Technical Program Manager

Chris is the Technical Program Manager for the SBCF Program.  He has a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Manchester, UK.  Chris has 43 years of experience in the aerospace and composite material supply industries and was a Technical Fellow with Cytec/Solvay prior to joining the MSU SBCF team.

Roberta Amendola

Associate Professor
Roberta is the Task 5 Leader and an Associate Professor in the M&IE Department.  Her research focuses on both fundamental and applied research into materials degradation and durability in extreme environments for energy, power, and propulsion.

Dilpreet Bajwa

Professor

Dr. Bajwa’s is a Professor and Department Head of the M&IE Department.  He has a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  Dr. Bajwa's research aims to understand and quantify the forming behavior of stretch broken and continuous carbon fiber based composites at varying temperatures and for complex geometries. Understanding the fundamental material properties such as true stress and true strain can help to model and predict the mechanical properties of stretch broken carbon fiber composites for various commercial applications.    

Cecily Ryan

Associate Professor

Dr. Ryan is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering of the Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department at MSU.  She has a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a M.S. in Applied Physics from the California Institue of Technology and a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University.

Eric Booth

Research Engineer

Eric Booth is a Research Engineer with the Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department. He is the chief process developer of MSU’s proprietary Stretch Broken Fiber Technology. He is a self-taught machinist, welder, fabricator, pilot, aircraft mechanic, heavy equipment operator, bio-technologist, and inventor. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering as well as a M.S. in Composite Materials from Montana State University.

Alexey Dynkin

Research Associate

Alexey Dynkin is the Task 6 Leader, and also performs material characterization on SBCF prepreg and cured parts. Prior to coming to MSU, he has worked in R&D on advanced materials and processes at Sporian Microsystems Inc. (Lafayette, CO) and in materials analysis at HP, Inc. (Fort Collins, CO). He holds an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Boston University.

Dan Messman

Research Technician

Dan is self taught and excels at hands on work.  Prior to joining the SBCF team, he worked building out new coffee shops and as a certified expresso machine technician.  He is involved in multiple facets of the SBCF program, from manufacturing to development to quality control.

Margaux Mesle

Research Scientist

Dr. Mesle is a Research Scientist in the Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department at MSU. She has a B.S. in Biochemistry, a M.S. in Microbial Ecology, and a Ph.D. in Geomicrobiology from the University of Lyon, France. Her research at MSU since 2013 has been applied to biotechnologies -involving microbiology and analytical chemistry - to study the biodegradation of organic polymers using microbes isolated from natural environments. In the SBCF group, she is currently involved in analytical QC testing using chemistry, imaging, and spectroscopy techniques.

Rachel Neal

Composite Engineering Technician

Rachel is a Composite Engineering Technician for the SBCF team.  She holds an A.S. in Engineering Technology, has 6 years of experinece doing composite layup and manufacturing process improvement at Unitech Composites in Hayden, ID, and is working toward a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Montana State University. 

Kyle Patten

Research Technician

Kyle graduated from MSU in Fall 2019 with a B.S. in Agricultural Education. For the SBCF Program, Kyle works as a research technician involved with the improvement of thin-film resin paper production.

Daniel Samborsky

Research Associate

Dan is a Research Engineer and Instructor in the Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department at MSU.  He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a M.S. in Civil Engineering from Montana State University and is a Professional Engineer.  Dan's research focuses on failure analyses and composite material fatigue.

Dan Schwendtner

Research Engineer

Dan Schwendtner is a Research Engineer whose work focuses on the integration of automation into novel stretch breaking and composite manufacturing processes.  Prior to working for the SBCF program, he was the Mechanical Team Lead for the Automotive Group at Blackmore Sensors and Analytics in Bozeman (now Aurora Innovation).  He has a B.S. in Physics from Augsburg University and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Montana State University.

Casey Spaulding

Research Engineer

Casey is a Research Engineer for the SBCF Program. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Montana State University, and a B.S. in Diesel Technology from Montana State University Northern. Casey's interests lie in machine design and propulsion systems particularly surrounding alternative energy sources like biofuels.

Theodore Beebe

Graduate Student

Theodore graduated from Montana State University in 2020 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Aerospace Engineering. He is currently working on his Master's in Mechanical Engineering. Presently, his research is aiding the characterization of stretch broken carbon fiber.

Andrew Dockter

Graduate Student

Andrew is a Materials Science Ph.D. student working on characterizing the strength of single carbon fibers. He earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at University of North Dakota. 

Matt Egloff

Graduate Student

After four years as a U.S. Army artilleryman, Matt Egloff graduated from MSU-Bozeman with a MS in Electrical Engineering in 1997. He is a senior, tenured, faculty member at Montana Tech and a Ph.D. student at MSU Bozeman where he is researching stretch-broken carbon fiber composites.

Dimantha Samarajeew  Kottawa Gamage

Graduate Student

Dimantha S. Kottawa Gamage received his B.S. in Management and Information Technology from University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. He has served in the industry for 5 years as a lean practitioner and a change agent. Currently, he is working on his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering with research focusing on set-based concurrent engineering.

Tasnia Javin Nur

Graduate Student

Tasnia graduated in 2016 with BSc in Materials & Metallurgical Engineering and is currently working on her Ph.D. in Material Science, with research focusing on understanding frictional behavior of carbon fiber composites during forming.

Riad Morshed Rezaul

Graduate Student

Riad Rezaul is a master’s student in the Materials Science program at Montana State University- Bozeman. His research focuses on sizing application to stretch broken carbon fiber.

Yoni Shchemelinin

Graduate Student

Yoni graduated from University of California, Merced in 2016 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. He is currently working on his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, with research focusing on stretch broken carbon fiber formability.

Bremer Deaton

Undergraduate Student

Morgan Hogue

Undergraduate Student

Zachary Swadburg

Undergraduate Student

Madison Dube

Graduate Student
Madison graduated from MSU with a M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2023 and is currently working as a Project Engineer at Janicki Industries in Sedro-Woolley, WA. 

Joseph Janicki

Graduate Student
Joe graduated from MSU with a M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2021 and is currently working as a Project Engineer III at Janicki Industries in Sedro-Woolley, WA. 

Noah Loomis

Graduate Student
Noah graduated from MSU with a M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2022 and is currently working as a Composite Mechanical Test Engineer for Booz Allen Hamilton in Dayton, OH.

Dalton Nold

Graduate Student
Dalton graduated from MSU with a M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2023 and is currently working as a Design Engineer for Boeing in Everett, WA.