Walter Bradley

Walter L. Bradley received his B.S. degree in Engineering Science (Physics) in 1965 and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering in 1968, both from the University of Texas (Austin).  He subsequently taught at the Colorado School of Mines as an Assistant/Associate Professor of Metallurgical Engineering for 8 years, at Texas A&M University as Full Professor of Mechanical Engineering for 24 years, and for 10 years at Baylor University as a Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering. His research area has been Materials Science and Engineering, with a focus on the mechanical properties of plastics and polymeric (plastic) composite materials, fracture and life prediction.  He has received more than $7 million in research funding (NSF, AFOSR, DOD, NASA , 10 fortune 500 companies) and published more than 150 refereed technical papers and book chapters.  He has been honored by the American Society for Materials as an elected FELLOW of ASM in 1993.  The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) honored him with a career-contributions award as the Educator of the Year for the US, Canada, and England in 2011.  His most recent work has focused on converting agricultural waste into functional fillers for engineering plastics to provide new economic opportunities for poor farmers in developing countries.

Dr. Bradley has also explored polymeric issues related to the origin of life, co-authoring The Mystery of Life: Reassessing Current Theories (Philosophical Library, 1984) and articles in the journals The Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere, 18 (1988) and the  American Biology Teacher, Vol. 55 (No.2), February 1993, pp. 78-83.