DEFTECH (DMCSP partner) will conduct the weekly Coffee Call on April 5. 2024. The call will be the first in a series of four calls in April that will concentrate on DoD textile requirements, advanced textiles and smart fabrics in support of the warfighter. The topic of the initial discussion will be, “Military Needs for Innovation in Textiles and Nonwovens.” The guest speaker will be Laurra C. Winters, Director, Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility (NCTRF).
 
This topic will cover a broad array of soldier kit requirements. Textiles and Nonwovens will be the primary focus. Topics will include cold and hot weather gear, soldier protection, vector protection, radar and IR scattering, cooling, heating, lighter weight, bandages, anti-microbial, recyclable, embedded sensors, self-powered, etc.
 
Laurra is located in Natick, Massachusetts, and executes the NCTRF mission alongside a team of 30 highly skilled professionals located in both Natick and Philadelphia. She has over 22 years of professional experience working within the textile field and over 20 years as a federal civilian employee.
 
Prior to joining NCTRF, Laurra worked within many different business units on the installation of the U.S. Army’s Natick Soldier Systems Center in Natick, MA. She played key roles in textiles and materials as a program manager, supervisor, textile subject matter expert and senior leader liaison for multiple fully customer-funded teams. She was instrumental in the successful execution to ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System for the Textile Material Evaluation Team and co-inventor on a patent for the “Insulate Bag” date February 2016, Patent #9265318.
 
In 2010, she volunteered to travel to Kabul, Afghanistan twice to complete an assessment of the local Afghan manufacturing base and on the 2nd visit provided technical assistance in review of future procurements efforts supporting the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A). She is co-author of the “Afghanistan Sewn Products Assessment and Recommendations Report”, by: Joseph W. Kernodle, Richard R. Yardley, Joseph P. Connors, and Laurra C. Winters. In 2004, Laurra successfully completed Basic Airborne Course at Ft. Benning, GA as a Department of the Army Civilian.
 
A native of Massachusetts, Laurra graduated from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth with a Bachelor of Science Degree Major in Textile Science and Minor in Business Administration. She completed her Master’s Degree of Interdisciplinary in Materials Systems Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
 

See you on the Coffee Call!