Alumni Profiles
Richard E. Lyon
U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Aviation Administration
Fire Safety Branch AAR-440
Airport and Aircraft Safety R&D Division
William J. Hughes Technical Center
Atlantic City International Airport, NJ 08405
Rich Lyon is a Polymer Engineer and Program Manager of Fire Research at the Federal Aviation Administration’s William J. Hughes Technical Center at the Atlantic City International Airport in New Jersey. Current research involves development of new polymers, material models for fire response, and improved test methods and analyses for fire hazard assessment. Rich joined the FAA in 1993 after leaving the University of California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in Livermore, California, where he worked for 8 years as a Materials Research Engineer in the Chemistry and Materials Science Department. Rich has received several patents and has published over 50 journal articles and book chapters on the physics, chemistry, mechanics, and flammability of polymers and their composites. Rich received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Oceanography (1975), and Masters (1981) and Doctoral (1985) degrees in Polymer Science & Engineering all from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Rich lives in Galloway Township, New Jersey. His wife Virginia is a Marketing Manager for the Wall Street Journal. Daughter Blair graduated cum laude from Rowan University and is a Circulation Manager for the Courier Post’s Impulse Magazine. Son Gregory is attending William Patterson University in New Jersey.
