"Engineering in the Big Leagues"

ABSTRACT

There is nothing about the aviation industry that isn’t on the cutting edge! Cutting edge design, materials, manufacturing, and computational technologies are used to create products which move people across the globe and defend nations. However, along with that come unrivaled levels of risk and responsibility.

Herzner will discuss his experiences engineering in that kind of environment and use that to talk about how the digital/internet age has changed, and not changed, the world in which engineers work.

VIDEO

BIO

Fred Herzner is the retired chief engineer of General Electric Aircraft Engines, a position he held from 1995 to 2003. He had responsibility for assuring that the engineering design processes reflected the best practices of the business, managing the flight safety organization, and serving as liaison between the aircraft engine business and various industry groups and regulatory agencies. He was also instrumental in formulating and implementing GE’s policy on how to identify and address issues which could potentially have flight safety implications.

Over his distinguished career, Herzner contributed to numerous military and commercial engine programs, including the B1-B Bomber, the F-16 and F-15 Fighters, the MD-11 and B-737, among others. His contributions to the aircraft engines business have been recognized with the Perry T. Egbert award for engineering excellence and induction into GE Aviation’s Hall of Fame. He also holds several patents.

A licensed pilot with instrument and commercial ratings, Herzner earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and a master’s degree in applied mechanics from The Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He has been involved in all phases of aviation from building model airplanes as a boy to owning, building, and flying his own airplanes all over the country.