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Wilson College of Textiles 
Textiles History

David R. Buchanan

NCSU Textiles 1978 – 2004

David R. Buchanan 1934 –
Years of Service NCSU Textiles 1978 – 2004

 

David R. Buchanan was born on March 28, 1934 to Hazel and Royal Buchanan in Mansfield, Ohio. He attended the local public schools and graduated from Springfield Township High School. He graduated from Capital University, Columbus, Ohio with a B.Sc. (Honors) Chemistry in 1956 and from The Ohio State University with a Ph.D. Physical Chemistry in 1962. He joined Chemstrand Research Center, Durham, NC as a research chemist from 1962 – ­1968. He joined Phillips Petroleum, Bartlesville, Oklahoma from 1968­ – 1970 as a Senior Research Chemist. He was a Research Project manager and Manager of Textile Testing for Phillips Fibers Corporation, Greenville, SC from 1970­ – 1975.

David R. Buchanan 1978
School of Textiles News

His academic life began in 1975 with a move to Cornell, University, Ithaca, NY where he joined the Design and Environmental Analysis program as an Associate Professor. In 1978, the College of Textiles at NC State was looking for expertise in fiber and polymer materials science and hired David to join the Textile Materials and Management department as Professor and Head. The college reorganized under a new dean, Dame S. Hamby, and he became professor from 1983­ – 1985. A college reorganization in 1985 resulted in the formation of a Textile Engineering program and creation of the Textile Engineering, Chemistry & Science Department. Under a new dean, Robert A. Barnhardt, he became Associate Dean for Academic Programs in 1988 and in 1990, Associate Dean for Research and Extension. He continued in this position until retirement as Emeritus Professor and Associate Dean in 2004. When Dean Barnhardt retired in 1999, David stepped in as Interim Dean until the arrival of Dean Blanton Godfrey in July 2000.

David R. Buchanan, Assoc. Dean, 1999

During his tenure as Associate Dean for Research and Extension, he was instrumental in the formation of the National Textile Center – a federally­funded multi­university research consortium, where he served as a member of the Technical Advisory Committee and as Chair of the Operating Board.

His research interests include: polymer structure and properties, fiber extrusion, nonwoven products and processes, and automation and robotics.

He has published over 60 research papers, received several patents, and is co­editor of the book: Automation in the Textile Industry published by the Textile Institute.

He is a member of: The Textile Institute, American Crystallographic Association, Sigma Xi, and American Physical Society and Editor­in­Chief of Textile Progress 1994­ – 2005 and Journal of the Textile Institute 2005­ present.

David married Sara (nee Meister) Buchanan on December 27, 1957 in Marion, Ohio. They have four children: Susan, Linda, Ann and Christopher; and four grandchildren: Margo, Sylvia, Wilson and Thomas.

 

Recent Publications:

  1. Buchanan, D. R., “Manufacturing Innovation, Automation, and Robotics in the Textile Industries”, in G. A. Berkstresser III, D. R. Buchanan, and P. L. Grady       (eds), Automation in the Textile Industry: From Fibers to Apparel, The Textile Institute (1995).
  2. Buchanan, D. R., “Heat Setting Fundamentals”, Carpet Yarn and Heat Setting Conference ­ Papers, Clemson University, Dalton GA , 1996.
  3. Buchanan, D. R., “Advances in Fiber Structure Determination”, Proceedings: The Textile Institute Yarn and  Fibre Science Joint Conference, Manchester         UK 1996.
  4. Buchanan, D. R., “University Textile Research in the Information Age”, Proceedings: The Textile Institute 78th World Conference, Thessaloniki, Greece,           1997.
  5. Buchanan, D. R., “Industry­University Interactions at North Carolina State University”, Proceedings – Asian Symposium of Textile Machinery – International,      Nagano, Japan, 1997.
  6. Buchanan, D. R., “University Textile Research in the 21st Century”, Proceedings: International Textile Education and Research Symposium – 97, Kyoto,            Japan, 1997.
  7. Buchanan, D. R. and R. A. Barnhardt, “Human Resource Needs for the Textile Industry in the New Millenium, Proceedings: The Textile Institute 79th Annual     World Conference, Madras, India., 1999.
  8. Narter, M. A., Batra, S. K., and Buchanan, D. R. “Micromechanics of three­-dimensional fibrewebs; constitutive equations.” Proceedings of the Royal Society      of London. Series A. Mathematical, physical and engineering sciences; 1999 Sept. 8, 455 (1989); 3543 – ­3563.
  9. Buchanan, D. R., editor, “ITMA ’99”, Textile Progress, The Textile Institute, Manchester, 2000.
  10. Buchanan, D. R., “Fiber/Textile Technology and University/Industry Cooperation: North American Fibers and Textiles Outlook”, Proceedings: International          Textile Symposium, Fukui, Japan, November 17, 2000.
  11. Ferguson, M. T. and D. R. Buchanan, “Textile Education in Time and Space”, Proceedings: Textile Institute 81st World Conference, Melbourne, Australia,         April 2, 2001.
  12. Hutchinson, S. R., Tonelli, A. E., Gupta, B., S. and D. R. Buchanan, “An investigation of the structure­property relationships in melt­processable high­                   acrylonitrile copolymer filament”, J. Mater. Sci (2008), 43:5143 – ­5156.

 

Source:  David R. Buchanan, personal communication, July 2012.