Principal Investigator for Congressional earmark program for Rotor Blade Sand Erosion U.S. Navy Air Systems Command to develop a modeling framework that will quantitatively compute the erosion (removal of mass) from the polyurethane film/coating material placed on the leading edge of a rotor blade. The goal was to improve coatings for helicopter rotor blade protection against sand and water erosion. This program developed a water erosion model for a family of polyurethane coatings.  This water erosion model and a previously developed sand erosion model will be validated through extensive experimental investigations. This testing program included the influence of sand particle, water droplet size, impact angle, coating thickness, adhesive type, impact velocity, and temperature.  The program developed a standard for sand and water erosion testing and tools for numerical investigation of protective coatings and adhesives. Team achieved $16M in cost avoidance and 3-4 months reduction in cycle time over the last 16 months of the contract.