Changing the Game at the Point of Need

The point of need—in the skies or in the field, it’s the place where the functionality of equipment is vital to a mission’s success. In the U.S. Armed Forces, these resources come in the form of critical vehicles, jets or ships that transport and protect those who serve. Paul Allison understands well the importance of their availability.

“Both of my parents were in the military, and I previously worked for the U.S. Army Engineering Research Development Center,” Allison said. “For me, using the gifts God gave me to be able to make soldiers’ lives better is what motivated me to go into engineering.”

An intrepid researcher with an inventive spirit, Allison pushes boundaries to serve the men and women who serve around the world. In Baylor’s Point-of-Need Innovations Center, Allison and his team develop groundbreaking technology that opens the door to repair on battlefields, in the air and, someday, even in Outer Space: Friction Stir Additive Manufacturing (FSAM). An approach that is cheaper, faster and more sustainable than traditional repairs, FSAM uses non-traditional materials and approaches that could cut repair costs by thirty percent, reduce waste by 20 percent, and—most importantly to soldiers in the field—cut lead times from traditional manufacturing techniques in half.

Allison can’t be there when equipment breaks down in the field. But the technology he develops alongside his Baylor collaborators will soon have soldiers back in the vehicles that support safer approaches to achieving their mission.