Senior Research Scientist

Timothy Bunning joined IHMC as a Senior Research Scientist in October 2025. He works with Chief Executive Officer Dr. Morley Stone on a variety of research projects. He retired after most recently serving as the Chief Technology Officer for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), where he was the primary science and engineering advisor to the AFRL Commander, responsible for assisting with planning and execution of an annual $3.5 billion science and technology program. It was a role that saw him serve as the corporate-level science and engineering interface for a government/military workforce of nearly 6,000 people in nine technology directorates and the 711^th Human Performance Wing. He served as the senior AFRL technology ambassador with academia, industry, other Department of Defense services, other government agencies, and with international partners.

He previously served as Chief Scientist of the Material and Manufacturing Directorate at AFRL, where he shared responsibility to define, advocate, and implement a strategic vision for the research and development activities (science and engineering) within a 900-person, $400 million enterprise.

His Air Force career began as a doctoral fellow conducting Ph.D. research at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut, where he earned a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering followed by a post-doc at Cornell University before joining AFRL full-time.

His technical background is rooted in materials science focused on light/soft matter interactions.  Current specific interests include biomaterials, 4-G optics, chiral liquid crystals, and polymer/LC composites.