Harrisburg University of Science and Technology welcomes Larry (LJ) Holmes, Jr. as Executive Director of the University’s Center of Advanced Manufacturing and Materials.
Holmes, a Chicago native, joins HU from the University of Delaware where he served as Assistant Director for Digital Design and Additive Manufacturing. He also recently served as Director of Military Applications with Orlando’s nScrypt, Inc., and as Chief Manufacturing Officer with the Applied Science and Technology Research Organization of America (ASTRO America), Bethesda, Md.
“I am pleased to welcome LJ to Harrisburg University. He brings a wealth of Advanced Manufacturing experience to HU,” said University President Dr. Eric Darr. “LJ will help build and lead the University’s new Advanced Manufacturing and Materials center where students will conduct research and gain invaluable hands-on experience using cutting edge technology and processes that drives today’s manufacturing sector.”
The Center of Advanced Manufacturing and Materials will be set up in HU’s $100 million Education Center set to open at South Fourth and Chestnut streets in downtown Harrisburg next year. The 11-story building also will house HU’s Bachelor of Science in Advanced Manufacturing Program. The ability to teach and provide students with hands-on experience using state-of-the-art machinery and technology at the same location is what Holmes said helped lead him to HU.
“I love the idea of completing academic work and getting hands-on experience at the same time and in the same place. I wish I had the opportunity to learn that way when I was a younger engineer,” Holmes said. “You see corporations like Tesla, and Uber and Google who are trying to make leap ahead advances. And new materials and new technologies are being developed everyday for these companies. There are not a lot of universities that are focusing on developing the leap-ahead materials and technologies like HU. We will be in a position to help solve industry supply chain issues that currently exist and also focus on the development of materials and processes to help leap-ahead companies advance. I’m looking forward to addressing current industrial needs while also stimulating technological advances. And I know that the Advanced Manufacturing portfolio that we are building at HU will help us do both of those things.”
Holmes holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Fla. He also earned an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Polymer Engineering Center, University of Madison-Wisconsin.
In his free time, Holmes enjoy carpentry, building anything from small woodworking projects (picture frames, decorations, etc.), to furniture, tree houses, and even barns.
For information about the Advanced Manufacturing program at HU, visit the following link.
ABOUT HARRISBURG UNIVERSITY
Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Harrisburg University is a private non-profit university offering bachelor and graduate degree programs in science, technology, and math fields. For more information on the University’s affordable demand-driven undergraduate and graduate programs, call 717.901.5146 or email, Connect@HarrisburgU.edu.
