Program Directors

Russell E. Gorga (Ph.D., Iowa State University, Chemical Engineering) is a professor in the Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science at the NC State University and former program director of textile engineering. His main interests lie in developing polymer nanocomposites with improved properties (mechanical and conductive) for a variety of functional applications.

Before coming to NC State, Dr. Gorga was a postdoctoral associate at MIT where he worked on improving the strength of brittle polymers (such as poly (methyl methacrylate)). In addition, Dr. Gorga worked as a research engineer at Union Carbide Corporation from 1997 through 2000, where he focused on structure-property relationships of semi-crystalline polymers for high strength

Amanda C. Mills (interim co-director) (Ph.D., NC State University, Mechanical Engineering) is an assistant research professor in the Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science at the NC State University. Her focus is on developing innovative methods for electronics integration into textiles. She creates full system demonstration platforms to examine the impact of the textile on the device and vice versa. For example, this has included system level electronic designs and knit structure designs for human energy harvesting and physiological sensing.