Louis C. (Lou) Dorworth has been working in the composite manufacturing industry since 1978, with experience in research and development, manufacturing engineering, material and process engineering, and tool design and fabrication. His aerospace composite career began in 1979 with the Lear Fan 2100 program. He has since been involved with many other aircraft programs such as the Beech Starship 1, the B-2 bomber, the C-17 transport, the Airbus A-330/340, and Boeing 777, mostly working for first-tier sub-contractors. Lou has also been involved with many other non-aerospace programs ranging from wind blade manufacturing, to snowboards, to underwater submersibles.

Lou has been associated with Abaris since its inception in 1983. He has been teaching composite-related courses for Abaris part-time since 1989 and full-time since 1992. Currently Lou is the Division Manager of Abaris Direct Services, part of Abaris Training Resources, Inc., located in Reno, NV. In this position Lou is responsible for coordinating on-site training courses and technical consultation projects for Abaris’ clientele.

Lou has been a professional member of The Society for the Advancement of Material & Process Engineering (SAMPE) since 1982. In 1994 he became a senior member of The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), and is currently participating in their Plastics, Composites, and Coatings (PCC) Technical Community, as a primary member of the Composites Technical Committee (CTC).

Ginger Gardiner has a Mechanical Engineering degree from Rice University and has worked in the composites industry since 1990, when she was hired by DuPont as a technical marketing representantive for Kevlar® aramid fiber and Nomex® aramid honeycomb in aerospace and marine applications. She then formed a consulting company, performing market research and development for companies such as Hoechst Celanese, Ciba-Geigy, Abaris Training and Hexcel. She now lives in North Carolina with her husband, boatbuilder Jim Gardiner, and two children, and is a contributing writer for High Performance Composites, Composites Technology, and Professional BoatBuilder magazines.

Greg Mellema has been an Airframe & Powerplant mechanic since 1988. He holds an Inspection Authorization from the FAA and is an adjunct instructor of Aviation Maintenance Technology at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Greg has nearly 30 years experience working on both civilian and military aircraft, building and repairing both metallic and advanced composite aircraft structures. During that time he has worked extensively with the U.S. Army’s Test and Evaluation Command and now works full-time for the Army’s Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) developing prototype advanced composite parts, training, and repair techniques for Army aviation.

Greg holds a B.S. in Professional Aeronautics and a Masters degree in Aeronautical Science from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and is a member of SAMPE and PAMA.