Experienced team of experts

Our team of experts consists of 3, yes three, physiologists (Drs. Hargens, Lundgren and Webb) and an expert in textile technology (Dr. Cole). Although the ECPS is correct physiologically, constant testing is needed during development, and one or two limitations may appear that call for ingenuity to correct. The three physiologists are academics who work in applied fields such as space and undersea medicine, environmental physiology, protective clothing and bioengineering. The textile person is a chemical engineer who works in materials, textiles, and manufacturing methods. All four are inventive and hold many patents.

Two of the physiologists (Hargens and Webb) and the textile expert (Cole) have worked together for the past 6 years. The third physiologist (Lundgren) joins them for attention to respiratory physiology and for his high altitude chamber in Buffalo, NY.

Brief background summaries of the team members follow.

Christine W. Cole, PhD, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Clemson University and Director of Clemson Apparel Research, has an international reputation in the design of textile materials and garments, with emphasis on functional design and manufacturing capability. For that reason, as the proposed development is centered on specially engineered textiles, Dr. Cole will be a major contributor. She has extensive experience as an investigator on government and military contracts, including programs with JLENS, DLA, DOD and U.S. Army Natick, as well as individual branches of the U.S. military. Dr. Cole’s list of qualifying credentials includes international contracts sponsored by the United Nations, the U.S. State Department and Department of Commerce as well as the National Science Foundtion, participation in the DOD BRACC commission on laboratories and membership on the DOD BAM for Collective Protection Business Area Committee. Dr. Cole has more than 40 published peer-reviewed articles, and holds two patents, with six applications pending.

Alan Hargens, PhD, Professor of Orthopaedics, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and of the Aerospace Medical Association. At NASA Ames he was a principal investigator in the Gravitational Branch and scientific director of the 8-foot centrifuge. He has published widely in the general areas of cardiovascular and musculoskeletal physiology. Dr. Hargens has developed techniques for measuring tissue pressure, microvascular blood flow, cerebral pressure and blood flow, muscle blood flow, and the effects of lower body negative pressure. He has investigated the clinical states of compartment syndrome and intervertebral disc pressure. Dr. Hargens has published 7 books, more than 230 peer-reviewed articles, 44 chapters, 440 abstracts, and 45 NASA publications. He holds eight patents.

Claes Lundgren, MD, PhD is Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, and Associate Director of Center for Research and Education in Special Environments (CRESE). Dr. Lundgren is well known for his research in diving medicine and physiology, and for respiratory and high altitude physiology. CRESE is a 20 million dollar facility that is unique among American universities. Its facilities include a combination hyperbaric-hypobaric chamber that goes from 30 atmospheres positive pressure to 8 mmHg total pressure (100,000 foot altitude equivalent), an annular pool and running track, an exercise laboratory, and a climate chamber. Senior staff includes a director of physiology and medicine and a director of engineering, and there are eight trained technicians in the fields of mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering. Dr. Lundgren holds more than 100 patents.

Paul Webb, MS, MD, is a fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association and of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. He has career-long interests in protective clothing and in thermal physiology. He has held faculty appointments at the University of Oklahoma and the Ohio State University. At Wright State University he is currently Clinical Professor of Community Health (Aerospace Medicine) and Research Professor of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering. Dr. Webb worked from 1954-1958 at the Air Force Aeromedical Laboratory. He owned and operated Webb Associates from 1958 to 1983. During that time he conducted research on cold exposure in diving, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, conceived of and developed the Space Activity Suit with partial support from NASA. He extended the application of elastic counter pressure to a reverse gradient garment for the prevention of cardiovascular deconditioning. He also studied the physiology of water-cooled garments and developed automatic controls for them. Another development was a pioneering version of a life support system in a suitcase, now known as a portable life support system. From studies with the water-cooled garment he developed a new type of human calorimeter, which allows precise studies of energy balance. In 2005 the Mars Society gave him an award for “pioneering research into mechanical counter pressure spacesuits”. His publication list numbers in excess of 200 articles books and book chapters, plus numerous technical reports. Dr. Webb has been awarded five patents.