Dr. Carl Popelar is an Institute Engineer in the Materials Engineering Department at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), with more than 30 years of experience in solid and fracture mechanics. His research focuses on characterizing the mechanical behavior of materials in order to predict in situ performance.
He leads and supports programs in composite materials, additively manufactured materials, and ultra-high temperature material characterization. He was instrumental in establishing SwRI’s first metals additive manufacturing (AM) capability was one of the principal originators of the SwRI MAKERS Focused IR&D program that ensured involvement and exposure of AM applications across SwRI.
Dr. Popelar is a principal investigator in the SwRI Center for Accelerating Materials and Processes (CAMP), focusing on maturing development and qualification of AM processes for high-consequence applications. He holds a BS in Metallurgical Engineering and an MS in Engineering Mechanics from The Ohio State University, and a PhD in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Texas at Austin.