Kirkland joins DIAL as industry liaison

Robert L. Kirkland is the new director of the industrial affiliates program for the Diagnostic Instrumentation and Analysis Laboratory.

Kirkland will serve as a liaison between DIAL and industries that can benefit from its research in the development of instruments to analyze combustion and chemical processes.

The interdisciplinary program is the university's largest continuous research project, attracting more than $65 million in research and development funding since its creation 18 years ago.

DIAL's sophisticated equipment uses computer-controlled lasers to monitor combustive and chemical processes in extremely hot and corrosive atmospheres, such as an ignited rocket engine or incinerator.

Since 1986, Kirkland has managed the business development office of Raleigh, N.C.-based Plasma Energy Corp., a subsidiary of First Mississippi Corp. He joined that company in 1982 as a venture and financial analyst. He is a 1973 Mississippi State graduate in business administration and also holds a master's degree in finance and marketing from Mississippi College.

"I'm excited about the opportunity to make a contribution to one of the most outstanding research programs at Mississippi State," Kirkland said. "DIAL is well on its way to becoming a world-renowned laboratory in the environmental management and industrial heating fields."