PhOTOS: (left) Senior Technical Fellow Dan Sanders tunnels through his family’s mining claim in Eastern Washington. (Above) At work at Boeing’s Fabrication plant in Auburn, Wash., Sanders develops metal forming technologies and is considered one of the world’s foremost experts in titanium. why did they go left instead of to the right?” While titanium, Sanders’ specialty, is not rare, practical methods for working with it are. At work, Sanders, of Boeing Research & Technology, pioneered a technique for super-plastic forming of friction stir welds for titanium parts, something that had previously stood in the company’s way for wide use of the strategic metal. “The advantage that Boeing’s always had is to be a step ahead of the competition in developing new materials, so that our airplanes perform in flight, whether you look at fuel burn or weight, or even the comfort of the passengers,” Sanders explained. “So, material science and engineering go hand in hand and the two co-exist especially in aerospace. Particularly in the kinds of products that are way out there—hypersonics, supersonics, electronic transport, space travel, trips to the moon. We really will require alloys that do not exist right now, literally, to get there.” Sanders credits his various successes to hard work, education and a reverence for the practical knowledge he learned on the shop floor. Growing up with the mine, Sanders first learned engineering by practice. He fixed engines, modified and invented machinery, and did whatever else the family needed to find gold. Not able to afford college, Sanders went nearly straight from high school to the factory. He worked second and third shifts at Boeing’s final assembly plant in Everett, Wash., so he could attend classes at the University of Washington during the day. The lure of shiny metals and his mining hobby kept him motivated. After many years of part-time school, Sanders, a machinist, earned an engineering degree. Through Boeing’s Learning Together program, he also gained a master’s degree. In 2008, Sanders was awarded a doctorate in mechanical engineering. By that time, he had already been inducted as a Boeing Senior Technical Fellow, becoming one of an elite group representing the company’s top technologists. As a Senior Technical Fellow, he can be called upon for support and expertise from anywhere in the company. Sanders even has been asked to investigate possible explosive activities BOEING FRONTIERS / OCTOBER 2012 17
Frontiers October 2012 Issue
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