Henry Chu

Dr. Henry chu (Ph. D.) currently holds the title of Emeritus Fellow in the National and Homeland Security (NHS) directorate at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), after his retirement from the position of Defense Systems Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and NHS Directorate Fellow in 2019.

Prior to his retirement Dr. Chu has accumulated 30 plus years of scientific and hands-on technical experience in research and development, design, engineering and manufacturing of armor materials and protective systems that spanned from heavy armor for main battle tanks, to armored security doors for critical nuclear facilities, to transformer protective barrier and to advanced light weight material for body armor inserts.

Throughout his three decades career at INL, Dr. Chu served as the chief scientist and senior technical lead and liaison in diverse protection and survivability collaborative programs with DoD and DOE agencies such as US Naval Research Lab, US Air Force Research Lab, US Army Research Lab, US Army DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center, DTRA, DoE-NNSA, DoE-OE, DoE-NM. OSD, PEO-soldiers, SOCOM, DHS, and various Defense Manufacturers, such as GDLS, BAE, OSHKOSH and ALCOA, due to his   scientific reputation and cross-cutting expertise in external and internal ballistics, penetration mechanics and impact physics,

Dr. Henry Chu was directly responsible for the design, manufacturing and deployment of advanced armor system for the Abrams Main Battle Tank and robust protective surfaces for several critical nuclear storage facilities on DoE site.  Dr. Chu played the pioneering role in establishing the highly-capable, multi-mission National Security Test Range (NSTR) to support armor and anti-armor R&D, testing and evaluation, material verification and validation and practical training of safeguard and security as well as military personnel.

Dr. Henry Chu received his Ph. D. and M. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Davis, CA and B. Sc. In Mechanical Engineering from the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks, ND.  During his tenure at INL, Dr. Chu has been awarded 20 US patents on novel materials and their processing methods as well as design of novel protective systems. He has published and presented extensively in numerous peer-reviewed journals and (classified and unclassified) conferences on diverse subjects of material science, processing and manufacturing, system designs and experimental mechanics and techniques.

In April 2016 the prestigious U.S. Cavalry & Armor Association awarded Dr Henry Chu the Order of St George Noble Patron of Armor medal for his long and distinguished services in the subject matter.