Terry L. St. Clair
Dr. Terry L. St. Clair (1943-) is a nationally known chemistry expert whose inventions and innovations in materials and materials science have had a lasting impact on NASA programs, the nation, and the world. His contributions have included novel plastics and processes for aerospace applications, many of which ended up commercialized for use in industry.
St. Clair was born in Roanoke, Virginia, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Roanoke College in 1965. He earned a doctorate in organic chemistry in 1973 from Virginia Tech.
St. Clair came to NASA Langley in late 1972 as a post-doctoral researcher, but officially started in 1975. His early work involved developing advanced adhesives for NASA’s supersonic aircraft program that could be used to bond titanium structures. His efforts led to several patents in polymer technology and production of a number of the adhesives. One of those, called LaRC-160 Matrix Resin, was used by private industry in the space shuttle program. Another, LaRC-TPI – a novel high temperature adhesive – was licensed for commercial electronic applications.
As a leading national materials expert, St. Clair served on three NASA shuttle teams where his unique chemical knowledge helped assess and improve the bonding of the shuttle’s ceramic tiles, eliminate debris during take-offs, and determine the chemical issues that contributed to loss of foam on the shuttle’s main tanks.
St. Clair also served as the head of the Advanced Materials Branch. His leadership resulted in modernization of the branch’s analytical capabilities, the creation of a major program in nanotechnology, a smart materials laboratory, two other experimental labs, and the recruitment and mentoring of a talented, new generation of researchers. St. Clair also mentored potential chemists outside of NASA Langley as an adjunct professor at both Virginia Tech and the College of William and Mary. He retired in 2001.
St. Clair has been awarded 100 patents worldwide and has contributed to more than 150 publications and presentations. His inventions won four prestigious R&D 100 Awards for innovation in research and development and twice were selected as NASA Invention of the Year. St. Clair was awarded two NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medals in 1985 and 1995. He served as the president of the Adhesion Society in 1992. He was also named a Fellow of the Adhesion Society.