Kevin Lease - Former Professor Applies Lessons in Failure Analysis to Make Submarines Safer

With hands that knew hard work and a mind that marveled at machinery, Dr. Kevin Lease can trace his love for mechanical engineering to his early, hardscrabble days in rural West Virginia.

“For many mechanical engineers, our interest comes from working with our hands when we were younger,” says Kevin. “I come from a family of lumberjacks and farmers. From the time I was able to tag along with my dad, I was dragging a chain saw around the woods of West Virginia, cutting timber for the family.”

At school, the mechanically-minded student excelled in math and science, making a career in mechanical engineering a natural choice. Over a span of 11 years, Kevin went on to earn his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Iowa.

The student then became the teacher, building a prestigious career in Kansas State University’s Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Department. Over the years, Kevin taught and mentored thousands of students, while raising three kids at home — one of whom followed in his footsteps and is now a biology professor at K-State.

During his years in academia, Kevin traveled the world presenting his research to government and industry on how to predict and prevent failures in engineering metals. His journeys also offered some unique sightseeing opportunities, such as hiking the Great Wall of China outside of Beijing, exploring World War II battlegrounds in Germany, and walking the streets of Turin, Italy, just prior to the 2006 Winter Olympics.

“I worked very closely with the aerospace industry on how to detect and predict when cracks in aircraft are going to be catastrophic, when they need to be repaired, and which materials can handle cracks better than others,” he says.

On one memorable occasion, Boeing Defense and the U.S. Air Force sought his expertise to solve a series of mid-air failures of the “flying boom” that connects KC-135 Stratotanker airplanes to aircraft that need mid-air refueling.

“I designed some custom fatigue tests and, after several months, I finally started seeing the same failures in my lab that they were seeing in the air,” he recalls. “After presenting my research and findings, the Air Force grounded an entire fleet of supertankers until they were all inspected and repaired. That was a good feeling.”

After 25 years at KSU, Kevin left the pressure-cooker life of a professor behind. He purchased a small farm in Virginia and settled in for a slower pace — only to learn that a slower pace is not quite his style.

Restless and ready to start a second chapter, Kevin re-entered the job market. In 2024, an Industrial Inspection & Analysis (IIA) job posting caught his eye. A Manager of Mechanical Engineering was needed in IIA’s new lab in Danville, Virginia, where additive manufactured submarine parts would be tested and qualified. The Danville lab is part of a coalition of industrial partners, industry experts and government entities working together to support the U.S. Navy’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE) in building next-generation submarines.

What might have been daunting for some — building a lab from the ground up — was a selling point for Kevin.

“The lab was just a shell at the time, but I was sold on the fact that I’d be starting up my portion of the lab from the ground up,” he says. “In my university career, setting up my research labs and running them with my graduate students was probably the most fun and satisfying part of my job.”

Needless to say, Kevin nailed the interview, and IIA added a world-renowned failure analysis expert to its ranks.

“I love the fact that I get to work at a higher level as one of the managers at the lab and also get to do what I love most: roll up my sleeves, run tests, and break specimens,” says Kevin, who puts in long days both in the lab and at home. “Others might see me as a workaholic, but I’m really just excited about the work I’m doing. I can’t wait to get in the lab and hit the ground running.”

Along with mechanical, or destructive, tests such as tension tests, bend tests, and Charpy impact tests, Kevin takes on special projects to help AM CoE funding partners and contractors gain deeper insight into the AM material behavior and uncover the root cause of complex abnormalities and failures.

“It’s fun to dig deeper into the data and answer questions for people that are either funding or running this place, says Kevin. “I love the fact that I’m part of a very small team that is developing a world-class testing and analysis lab at a facility – the Navy AM COE – that is also unique and world class.”

Frequent lab tours by VIPs — from Navy Admirals to U.S. Senators — offer ample opportunity for Kevin to indulge his lifelong love of teaching (without lesson plans or a never-ending pile of papers to grade).

“These tours allow the old professor in me to come out,” says Kevin, recalling one of the nicest compliments he ever received. “A woman who had just taken a tour of our lab walked up to me after my presentation and said: ‘Thank you for your passion.’”

Passion feels fitting when the stakes are so high. After all, the parts manufactured at the AM CoE, and tested by IIA, are ocean bound and defense driven.

“No part or material is going to be approved for use if it doesn’t pass IIA’s testing and inspection,” says Kevin. “‘That part is going on a submarine’ is a statement you hear a lot around here — and sometimes we even know the name of the submarine. It adds a gravity and pride to what we do.”