Lewis Payton, PhD, MS Auburn University

1. Lewis Payton, PhD, MS Auburn University Dr. Lewis Payton earned a BS in Physics (1979) at Auburn University, then served in the US Navy for 17 years before returning to Auburn, where he earned an MS (2000) and PhD (2002) in Industrial and Systems Engineering. While in the Navy, he became a Certified Nuclear Chief Engineer (D2W, D2G & A4W), advancing to become the Deputy Director of all Nuclear Surface ships assigned to the US Atlantic fleet, supervising training for 20,000 men and the building and repair of all nuclear cruiser and carrier assets in Atlantic Fleet. When Dr. Payton returned to Auburn in 1996, he continued to serve the US Navy as an Associate Professor of Naval Science and as the Executive Officer for the Naval ROTC Unit at Auburn through 2000. From 2000 through 2004, he was a graduate research and teaching assistant, and then Visiting Professor in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Auburn, as well as a post-doctoral research assistant in Material Engineering. In 2002, Dr. Payton served as a summer faculty member at the NASA Marshal Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. He was awarded a dual appointment as Research Professor in both the Mechanical Engineering and Industrial and Systems Engineering departments at Auburn in 2005. In his SCIB-sponsored research, Dr. Payton is using Evolutionary Computation (EC) techniques for finite mesh design to simplify the input parameterization for Finite Element Analysis (FEA), with the goal of developing an affordable, accurate, responsive and timely tool that will markedly facilitate and enhance injury biomechanics research. The proposed method could be used to design innovate and effective mesh structures for modeling anatomical structures under impact conditions; it should also be applicable to a variety of FEA software packages, permitting widespread use in other biomechanical applications. Lewis Payton, PhD, MS Auburn University Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Auburn University Research Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Auburn University