Sporting interests have driven the career of Alex Dee, EG '98M, who now designs composite golf shafts used on the PGA tour for Fujikura Composite America of California.

As an undergraduate at the University of California-San Diego (UCSD), Dee developed an interest in composite materials while taking a graduate-level course on the subject. He was intrigued by the fact that fiber-reinforced composites can easily be tailored, enabling engineers to create unique product designs with high strength-to-weight ratios.

Upon graduation, Dee decided to enter the field. "I had heard that the number-one commercial use of composite materials was in the golf industry," he says.

"My first job out of UCSD was at a company called Horizon Sports Technologies [HST]. When I got there, it was a small company designing and manufacturing graphite golf shafts for TaylorMade Golf. It was a lot of fun working there, and I learned a great deal about the industry. By the time I left, HST was one of the largest shaft manufacturers in the world, thanks to market factors and its strong engineering team."

While working at HST, Dee turned his attention to graduate school as a means of increasing his knowledge and understanding of composites. He had every intention of enrolling in a program on his native West Coast, and gave serious consideration to the University of California-Los Angeles, California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo and the University of California-San Diego.

Then, however, he took a cue from an acquaintance during a friendly game of billiards.

"One night, while playing pool at a local bar with a friend, I was introduced to one of his co-workers, who was a designer of composite structures at a local aerospace company," Dee says. "He was a graduate of MIT, and we got to talking about graduate programs for composites. He said that if he were going to do a graduate program in composites, he'd go to the University of Delaware. That night, I looked up the University and was immediately impressed with its credentials. I applied and the rest is history."

Upon enrolling at Delaware, Dee found that his adviser was Jack R. Vinson, H. Fletcher Brown Professor of Mechanical Engineering, whose text he had used as a reference while working at HST.

It took some time adjusting to the East Coast lifestyle.

"Like anybody who leaves his hometown, I was freaked out at first. It took some time getting used to. You hear about all these stereotypes of East Coast people, but it was all untrue at the University of Delaware," he says.

"I established some great friendships and studied under the nicest and most well-respected professors. I felt that the professors really cared about their students. I loved the campus and the area, too, even though, in the beginning, I felt that I was in the middle of nowhere."

Once Dee got his feet on the ground, he quickly got them off the ground, joining the men's club volleyball team. "I had been told that volleyball in the East was weak, but that turned out to be untrue, as well," he says. "Of course, driving over an hour to get to the ocean was a drag, but driving less than an hour to get to another city was amazing."

Also amazing was his research, Dee says, as he studied high strain rate properties of composite materials.

He says, "It was an honor to work for and learn from Dr. Vinson," a pioneer in composite materials research at UD, adding that his association with the Center for Composite Materials was "extremely valuable."

Dee says he also was influenced by center director John W. Gillespie Jr., Department of Mechanical Engineering chairperson Tsu-Wei Chou and research technician Touy Thiravong, who he says "are part of a composites dream team at UD."

Dee says that golf shaft design is a complex problem because there are several specifications that must be met. "In a given shaft, I'm trying to design to a defined bending stiffness, twisting stiffness and weight distribution, as well as considering geometry, strength and durability. I'm also taking into consideration ease of manufacturing and cost.

"Without special software, shaft design can be a nightmare of trial and error. My first six months at Fujikura were spent writing the software that aids us in the design of every shaft we make," he says.

Although Dee has played some golf, his passion is volleyball–at least his recreational passion.

"I'd rather hit the beach and play some volleyball than hit a few golf balls," he says. "However, what is really neat is seeing that the shafts I've designed are being well-received by PGA tour professionals. Fujikura Composite has been the number-one graphite shaft on the PGA tour for the past 16 weeks in a row now. It's also neat going to a sporting goods store and seeing products I've designed on the shelves. How cool is that?"

-Neil Thomas, AS '76