He received the Ph.D. and B.S. [summa cum laude] in Materials Engineering in 1989 and 1986 respectively from the University of Limerick - Ireland. Dr. Dillon worked most recently at the Applied Research Lab at The Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA where he was Deputy Division Head of the Composite Materials Division since 2000. Prior to that he worked at Northrop Grumman in Bethpage NY; Lawrie Technology, Inc in Girard, PA; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA.