Atkins Intro Transcript

Dr. Nat: Hello I'm Nat Natarajan, the Mayberry professor of Management in the College of Business at Tennessee Technological University . I'm very pleased to welcome today Dr. Alan Atkins, distinguished alumnus of TTU and the Mayberry lecture speaker of 2007. Dr. Atkins received his undergraduate, masters, and doctoral degrees in engineering from Tennessee Technological University . Dr. Atkins is credited with being the father of stealth technology because of his technical leadership that led to the success of the country's stealth programs. He spearheaded the development of the first electric RPV , the first solar powered RPV, the smallest operational RPV, and the first truly stealthy RPV. His success with the RPV programs led to the extension of the low observable technologies through the larger manned aircraft. This maturation of the technology led by Atkins is used in the F117 stealth fighter and the B2 stealth bomber. The wise chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff directly attributed the country's success in Operation Desert Storm to the technical leadership that Atkins provided on stealth demonstrated programs. In 1981, Dr. Atkins received the Department of Defense's second highest civilian award. After a highly successful tour of the Defense Advanced Research Project's Agency, DARPA, ending as the director of the Aerospace Technology Office, Atkins moved to the McDonald Douglas in 1987 as vice president and general manager of the newly created organization that became the Phantom Birds. In 1990, he became the vice president and general manager of McDonald Douglas Technology, Inc, a corporate subsidiary specializing in making tanks invisible. In 1997 in the merger of McDonald Douglas and Boeing, he rejoined the Phantom Birds as a vice president of technology furthering the application of both foreign and domestic advanced technology to Boeing projects until his retirement in 2005. He has given generously time, counsel, and resources to the department of electrical and computer engineering and to the college of engineering at TTU by serving and providing leadership on the Industrial Advisory Board and the Dean's Advisory Board. In 2006, he was honored as a distinguished alumnus of Tennessee Tech University so welcome Dr. Atkins.

Dr. Atkins: Thank you.