When the first rotary platform was built to collect radar data at various aspect angles, all of ERIM's radar research was for military applications. Work in later decades made automobiles and highways safer for everyone.
The Packard Hangar, which for many years was home to ERIM's flight operations at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Michigan
Russell D. O'Neal
Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM)
Early Director and Long-Time Trustee
1950s
"I recall clearly the first meetings. I went to the blackboard and drew a block diagram of an overall defense system, strongly emphasizing the need to take the systems approach."
1950: MARC expands its research program and becomes Willow Run Research Center, later Willow Run Laboratories.
Landsat and other earth observation satellites can trace their origins to Willow Run Laboratories, because their multispectral scanning "eyes" were the direct result of the work of our researchers. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR), or "side-looking radar," begins to develop and flourish under our staff leadership.
