Recognized technical expert Todd Currier, P.E., Ph.D. has been appointed to serve as Chief Scientific Officer of Zulu Pods. Zulu Pods is a revolutionary aerospace and defense company focused on reimagining and redesigning more efficient lubrication systems for jet engines. As Chief Scientific Officer, he will lead innovative advances in design and geometries never utilized before and shift the understanding of jet engine lubrication. Dr. Currier comes to Zulu Pods from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL).
MIAMI, April 27, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Zulu Pods, the aerospace and defense company focused on reimagining and redesigning more efficient lubrication systems for jet engines, today announced that Todd Currier, P.E., Ph.D., has joined the company as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). In this capacity, Dr. Currier will lead the utilization of innovative design and geometries, testing processes, and partnerships with other leading experts in the specialized field of fluid control.
Dr. Currier is one of Zulu Pods' founding scientists, supporting the team in a part-time capacity for the past eight months. He has played a critical role in developing the first-of-its-kind ZPod prototype. The patented ZPod, which is small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, marks a revolution in lubrication systems design for single use engines like those found in drones and missiles. This obviates the need for multiple components found in the bulky, heavy, and inefficient lubrication systems currently in use.
A renowned leader in structural design and product development for aerospace mechanical systems, Dr. Currier brings more than a decade of experience with leadership at top aerospace companies and research laboratories, where he developed expertise in mechanical design with an emphasis on fluids, structures and the interaction of the two.
"Todd is a major asset to our team of industry disruptors," said Rob Sladen, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Zulu Pods. "His expertise will continue to open up avenues we have never seen before, ultimately ensuring our country's aerospace superiority."
Dr. Currier was most recently a senior member of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), where he developed strategy for ballistic missile defense. Previously, Dr. Currier acted as the Mechanical System Structural Lead for Pratt and Whitney's Advanced Engine Development, where he worked on some of the company's most significant hardware and structural design challenges across countless engine platforms. He investigated gear fractures on the F-35 aircraft, shortfalls in commercial aircraft engines (PW2000, PW4000, V2500, GP7000), and other manufacturing defects and safety-critical analyses and resolutions across all the company's engine platforms.
"I am thrilled to devote myself full-time to Zulu Pods and pursue advances in jet engine efficiency, cost, and environmental impact," said Dr. Currier. "Our work of designing and manufacturing simpler, more efficient lubrication and bearing systems, like the ZPod, will enable a novel way of thinking about a system that hasn't seen significant innovation in more than 100 years. This shift in design approach could have a ripple effect through all aerospace mechanical system designs."
He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst specializing in Fluid Structure Interaction and is a Chateaubriand fellow with training from LadHyX, the fluid dynamics laboratory at École Polytechnique in France. The technique he developed while pursuing his doctorate employs the use of electricity in water, coupled with high-speed photography to visualize and quantify flow around structures. This system has been used to make several important scientific discoveries, such as fluid behavior critical to preventing failures and damaging vibration in large structures in strong wind.
Dr. Currier is recognized as a technical expert with many of his scientific discoveries published in peer-reviewed journals, including Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Physical Review Fluids, Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, and Journal of Fluids and Structures. He holds a patent for a retention device used as a speed change mechanism integral to gas turbine engines.
Dr. Currier has also participated with FIRST robotics for five years, serving high schoolers and vocational students as a Head Robotics Coach, where he received an award for his mentorship.
About Zulu Pods
Zulu Pods is a woman-owned aerospace and defense company focused on reimagining and redesigning more efficient lubrication systems for one-time-use jet engines. The ZPod is the company's unique and patented packaged oil delivery system. By using 3D metal printing, ZPods are small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, offering significant cost and weight savings as well as increased performance. In addition to ZPods' application in single use engines, they can function as a mechanical system's lubrication reservoir. Initially designed for helicopters, a ZPod reservoir system can extend flight time in a loss-of-lubrication event, which could help save lives and multimillion-dollar assets. For more information, visit zulupods.com.
Media Contact
Red Banyan, Zulu Pods, 954-379-2115, [email protected]
SOURCE Zulu Pods
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