Dr. James H. Starnes, Jr.
Dr. James H. Starnes, Jr. (1939 –2003) is internationally recognized for his lasting technical and leadership contributions to advance aerospace structures and composite structures. He provided outstanding service to NASA and the nation as a leading structures expert, mentored a generation of engineers; and contributed extensive service to professional societies.
Starnes was born in California, and graduated from Granby High School in Norfolk, Virginia. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 1961 with a bachelor of science degree in engineering mechanics, then earned a master of science degree in engineering mechanics from Georgia Tech in 1963. He received his doctor of philosophy degree in aeronautical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1970.
Starnes began his NASA career in 1970 as an aerospace engineer at Langley. He was assistant branch head of the Structural Mechanics Branch beginning in 1979, and became branch head in 1981. After leading the Branch for 18 years, he became Langley’s senior engineer for structures and materials in 1999. His career at Langley spanned 33 years.
His significant contributions were in understanding plate and shell structures to optimize their weight for aerospace vehicles. He researched and inspired others to address many topics including thermal-structural response of structures with imperfections subjected to flight loading conditions, buckling and post-buckling response, influence of local stress gradients from cutouts and damage, and damage-resistant structural concepts. The results of these studies led to better design tools to reduce aerospace structural weight and fuel consumption and emissions. Starnes lead and contributed to the development of new test methods and verified analytical and computational tools for structural analysis and design, such as the widely used Structural Analysis for General Shells (STAGS) finite element code. His pioneering research results were published in 250 journal articles, papers, and book chapters.
Beginning in the late 1970’s, he pioneered research in advanced composite structures. This led to a 10-year, NASA Advanced Composites Technology Program. With Starnes as the structures lead for the in-house program, Langley developed and demonstrated composite wing and fuselage structural concepts and technologies for future subsonic aircraft. In the late 1990s, he was an active participant in the decade-long NASA High-Speed Civil Transport Program, where he led the in-house effort on composite and metallic structures.
Technologies from these programs–which demonstrated 15- to 20-percent structural weight savings–are used on civil and military aircraft such as the B787 and C-17 transports. During the same period, he also led a large research team in the development and verification of analysis methods for predicting the residual strength of metallic aircraft fuselage structures with multi-site damage in support of the Aircraft Structural Integrity Program. This program helped reduce aircraft maintenance frequency without sacrificing flight safety.
In the 1990’s, he served as Langley’s lead for structures and materials projects in support of the NASA Next Generation Launch Technologies program. He also contributed to and led a team of analysts to redesign the Space Shuttle liquid oxygen tank to reduce its mass by 200 pounds–a cost saving of nearly $2 million per launch. Working with the military, he helped develop the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Navy composite submarine project and the Navy and NASA Tiltrotor Technology Program, which led to significant benefits for military vehicles.
He supervised a structural analysis team to investigate the space shuttle solid rocket booster field joints and external tank failure after the Challenger accident in 1986. He co-led the X-33 composite cryogenic tank failure investigation in the 1990s. He had a lead role for the American Airlines Flight 587 failure investigation as the NASA advisor to NTSB. He served as the NASA representative to the National Research Council’s (NRC) Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board on composites; research advisor to NRC postdoctoral research associate program; research advisor to over 30 graduate students; research advisor to Virginia Tech.; and the NASA advisor to NATO on structural stability.
Starnes’ technical accomplishments and leadership were recognized with 31 awards, including the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement and NASA Exceptional Achievement Medals. He was honored as a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA); the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; American Society for Composites (ASC); and as a Georgia Institute of Technology Distinguished Alumni. To honor Dr. Starnes, the AIAA and ASC established a joint award in his name. In a rare and ultimate tribute to his legacy of dedicated contributions and service to NASA, the Langley Structures and Materials Laboratory (B1148) was dedicated to him in 2006. The facility is now known as the Dr. James H. Starnes Jr. Structures and Materials Research Laboratory.
Jim Starnes died unexpectedly at the age of 64 in Yorktown, Virginia, on October 27, 2003. In addition to his wife Susan, he was survived by a daughter, Susan Katherine Starnes, and a son, James H. Starnes III.