Dr. Michael Bakas is a material scientist and ARL South Regional Site Lead, part of the Regional Site Synchronization Office (RSSO) within the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Army Research Laboratory (ARL). In this role, he serves as the primary point of contact to explore collaboration opportunities with DEVCOM ARL and the Army.
Dr. Bakas worked as a staff scientist from October 2006 to August 2015 at the Idaho National Laboratory's (INL) National and Homeland Security directorate performing applied research to solve specific challenges in protection materials. His work led to five patents, some of which have been licensed.
Prior to his tenure at INL, Dr. Bakas' PhD work was supported by ARL. The focus of the work as on studying the influence of microstructural defects on the ballistic performance of silicon carbide tiles. His work as a program manager and a staff scientist provided exposure to both fundamental and applied research. Dr. Bakas consistently demonstrated an ability to identify a path forward for challenging and complex technical problems.
Dr. Bakas received his Bachelor's in Ceramic and Materials Engineering and his PhD in Ceramic and Materials Engineering from Rutgers College of Engineering.