Brigid Mullany, PhD

Associate Dean for Research, Professor | Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science, University of North Carolina Charlotte

Brigid Mullany, PhD, received her bachelor’s degree and doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University College Dublin in Ireland. After graduation, she received a two-year EU Marie Curie postdoctoral research position at Carl Zeiss in Germany. In 2004 she joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she is currently working in the area of surface finishing and characterization.

Mullany received in the SME Kuo K. Wang Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award in 2007, and the NSF CAREER Award in 2008. She is the President elect for SME’s North American Manufacturing Research Institute (NAMRI), a fellow of the International Academy of Production Engineering (CIRP) and is currently the Chair of CIRP’s Scientific Technical Committee on Surfaces (STC-S). From January 2017 to November 2019, she was a program director in the Advanced Manufacturing Program at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Alexandria, VA.

Brian Rohm

Senior Manufacturing Engineer and the Technical Talent Development Program (TTDP) Leader | GE Aviation Supply Chain

Brian Rohm is a Senior Manufacturing Engineer and the Technical Talent Development Program (TTDP) Leader for GE Aviation Supply Chain. The TTDP is a development program focused on developing future manufacturing experts and leaders by accelerating the technical growth of early career engineers. As the Program Leader, Brian is responsible for the recruitment and management of program members, training curriculums, program rotations, and for the strategy of placing members upon their program graduation.

Brian has 14 years of manufacturing experience with GE Aviation with his GE career starting as a multi-term co-op primarily focused on tool design and build. Upon graduating with his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Brian hired into GE Aviation as a Process Engineer focused on CNC programming, heat treating, and inertia welding of Rotating parts. Brian has since held various roles ranging from the Turning Special Process Technology Leader, Lean Lab Manufacturing Engineering Manager, and more recently, as the Manufacturing Cost-Out Leader.

Charles (Chuck) Paul

Vice President – Technology | Henkel Adhesive Technologies

Charles (Chuck) Paul is Vice President – Technology at Henkel Adhesive Technologies. Chuck has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley and over 30 years of experience in materials R&D and R&D management. His expertise is in polymer-based systems, where he has published several book chapters, and holds over 60 US patents. In his current role within New Business Development he provides technology assessments for all potential investments be they M&A or Venture. Chuck spends the majority of his time supporting Henkel-Ventures to find relevant start-up companies and technologies across North America, and to support existing investments in this region.

Bruce Kramer

Senior Advisor | National Science Foundation

Bruce Kramer is a graduate of MIT (S.B., S.M., Ph.D) and has served on the faculties of Mechanical Engineering of MIT and George Washington University. He is currently a Senior Advisor at the National Science Foundation, coordinating NSF’s participation in the National Advanced Manufacturing Program. Dr. Kramer previously directed NSF’s Divisions of Design, Manufacture and Industrial Innovation and Engineering Education and Centers.

He co-founded Zoom Telephonics of Boston, a NASDAQ company and producer of communications products marketed under the Zoom and Motorola brands, holds three U.S. patents, and is a Fellow of the SME and an International Fellow of the School of Engineering of the University of Tokyo. He has received the F.W. Taylor Medal of CIRP, the ASME Blackall Award, and the R.F. Bunshah Medal of the ICMC for his contributions to manufacturing research and the Distinguished Service Award, the highest honorary award granted by the NSF.

Gabriela Ciocarlie

Vice President | Securing Automation and Secure Manufacturing Architecture | Elpha Secure

Gabriela F. Ciocarlie, Ph.D., is the Vice President for Securing Automation and Secure Manufacturing Architecture at Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII) and the Chief Product Officer at Elpha Secure. Her expertise is in anomaly detection, distributed alert correlation, network and application level security, cyber physical systems security and distributed system security. Previously, Gabriela was a senior technical manager of SRI’s New York City research hub focused on cyberanalytics, which she established in 2016. Gabriela holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in computer science from Columbia University, and a B.Eng. in computer engineering from Polytechnic University of Bucharest.

Hadrian Rori

Chief Technology Officer | LIFT

Hadrian Rori is the Chief Technology Officer at Detroit-based LIFT, one of the founding Manufacturing USA institutes.

Mr. Rori is an accomplished executive with over 34 years of experience in product creation and quality improvement.

His previously held positions include consultation to suppliers and entrepreneurial start-ups in the automotive sector providing operational guidance in application development and manufacturing ramp-up from small-scale prototyping to series production.

Prior positions also include Executive Vice President for Akebono Brake Corporation, where he was responsible for North American Engineering, Quality and Program Management. In addition, he served as Vice President of Vehicle Engineering at Bright Automotive. A manufacturer of state-of-the-art lightweight, hybrid electric vehicles for commercial and government fleets.

Prior to Bright Automotive, Mr. Rori spent 24 years with Chrysler Corporation where he held a variety of product engineering executive positions. His last role at Chrysler was Director of Chassis Engineering for body-on-frame products. Prior to this position, he was senior manager – Jeep® Vehicle Development where he directed the group responsible for functional and quality objectives, vehicle testing, and development for the Grand Cherokee® program.

Mr. Rori has a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and an M.S. in Engineering Management from the University of Detroit. He holds four U.S. patents – two patents for lightweight vehicles and associated components and two patents for advanced passenger car chassis systems.

Dan Frayssinet

Founder of DP Technology | Hexagon

Dan studied mechanical engineering at the Institut National des Sciences Appliquees in France, where he worked on numerical control systems. In 1977, he helped develop ARCADE, an early CAD system, and later joined a CAD/CAM company in Chicago, where he met Paul Ricard. The two discovered a shared desire to make user-friendly CAM software and moved to California, where they started DP Technology.

DP is based in Camarillo, California (about an hour northwest of Los Angeles), with offices in Europe and Asia, as well as a network of resellers on six continents. Most recently, DP Technology joined Hexagon AB’s smart manufacturing portfolio in a strategic acquisition to bring the best of smart manufacturing to a wider customer base. Today, Dan continues to work in strategy and business partnerships for the ESPRIT product under Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division.

Khershed Cooper

Program Director for the Advanced Manufacturing program in the Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation Division of the Engineering Directorate | National Science Foundation (NSF)

Dr. Khershed P. Cooper is a Program Director (PD) for the Advanced Manufacturing (AM) program in the Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) Division of the Engineering Directorate at National Science Foundation (NSF).

He directs basic research activities in advanced manufacturing, and associated Manufacturing USA and NSF-DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) collaborations. He is a disciplinary program officer for the Engineering Research Centers (ERC) and a co-PD for cross-cutting programs, such as, Critical Aspects of Sustainability (CAS), Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI), Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN) and National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI).

He is an NSF representative for NSTC’s Nano Science Engineering and Technology (NSET) Sub-committee, which frames the NNI Strategic Plan. Prior to joining NSF, Dr. Cooper was a Program Officer for Manufacturing Science at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and, concurrently, a Senior Research Metallurgist at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). He received his MS and PhD from University of Wisconsin – Madison. He has nearly 200 invited talks, 70 contributed presentations, 150 publications, edited one book and one patent and has sponsored international studies, symposia and workshops in various areas of advanced manufacturing. He is a Fellow of SME and ASM International and a recipient of ASM International’s Burgess Memorial Award.

Robert Landers

Program Manager | National Science Foundation (NSF)

Dr. Robert G. Landers (landersr@mst.edu) is a Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

He is currently a program manager at the National Science Foundation working in the Dynamics, Controls, and System Diagnostics, Foundational Research in Robotics, Cyber Physical Systems, Future Manufacturing, and Leading Engineering for America’s Prosperity, Health, and Infrastructure (LEAP HI) programs. He received his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1997.

His research interests are in the areas of modeling, analysis, monitoring, and control of manufacturing processes, and in the estimation and control of lithium ion batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. He received the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award in 2004, the ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering’s Best Paper Award in 2014, and the ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control Best Paper Award in 2020. He is a Fellow of ASME, and a senior member of IEEE and SME.

Rahul Chaudhari

Manager Process Design and Development | The Timken Company

Rahul Chaudhari is Manager of Process Design and Development at the Timken Company in North Canton, Ohio. Rahul leads a team that is responsible for providing manufacturing engineering expertise and direction to the business units.

Through continuous improvement activities, expanding manufacturing footprint and defining new processes for products, Rahul and his team deliver solutions that offer value-added opportunities for the company.

During his career, Rahul has held several roles in the bearing and automotive component industry from operations to R&D. At Timken R&D, he has led several technology initiatives to evaluate and deliver breakthrough manufacturing technology.

He is a member of the board of trustees of Project Rebuild, a local nonprofit organization.

Rahul holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering Pune, India and a Masters in Manufacturing Engineering from University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Amy Peterson

Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Master’s Studies | Department of Plastics Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Amy Peterson is an Associate Professor of Plastics Engineering at University of Massachusetts Lowell with expertise in interfacial phenomena and additive manufacturing (AM). Her research group studies processing-structure-property relationships in polymers and polymer composites, with a focus on interfacial phenomena in multilayered systems. She received her PhD in 2011 from Drexel University. She was an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow while at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces 2011-2013 and an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute 2013-2018.

Ongoing projects include experimental and computational investigation of semi-crystalline polymers for material extrusion-based, tailoring of interfacial interactions to facilitate flow and AM of highly loaded composites, real-time control of and property prediction for AM, and coatings for cell culture surfaces capable of controlled release for cell manufacturing.

Arif Malik

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering | University of Texas at Dallas

Arif Malik is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas. Before joining UT Dallas, Malik was an Assistant Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Saint Louis University. He received his PhD from Wright State in 2007, and prior to this he held several positions in industry, including five years as a process control & research engineer for the metals industry, two years as an air-movement applications engineer, and five years in a start-up company that he co-founded to supply process control software to the metals manufacturing industry.

Malik is a recipient of NSF’s CAREER Award, and his research involves uncertainty-based computational mechanics related to advanced manufacturing, including rolling, machining, laser surface engineering, and additive/hybrid manufacturing. In 2018, Malik was invited to serve as Technical Program Chair for the ASME Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (MSEC 2018). Aside from research and teaching at UT Dallas, Malik and his graduate students run annual NSF-supported Engineering Brighter Futures for Autism events in which Dallas area teens partner with engineering students to practice social collaboration skills while conducting manufacturing-related design-build-test 3D printing competitions.

Jeffrey A. Abell, Ph.D., FSME, PE

Chief Scientist for Global Manufacturing and Director of Manufacturing Systems Research at General Motors

Dr. Jeffrey Abell is Chief Scientist for Global Manufacturing and Director of Manufacturing Systems Research at General Motors. He is responsible for global manufacturing research focused on vehicle electrification, lightweight systems manufacturing, automation, and smart manufacturing. He led a research team that played a key role in bringing the Chevy Volt advanced battery to production and has held other leadership positions in product development and manufacturing at GM, Delphi, and DaimlerChrysler, including two international assignments. He has written numerous technical publications, been granted several patents, and has a strong track record of successful manufacturing technology implementation. He was twice presented with the Boss Kettering award, GM’s highest recognition for technical innovation.

Since 1998, Dr. Abell has served in various capacities with SME such as member of International Awards committee and Chair of Education and Accreditation Committee. He has been elected to the NAMRI board and is an SME Fellow. He is Vice-Chair of the Industrial Advisory Council and member of the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET. He has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from General Motors Institute (now Kettering University), and graduate degrees in Systems Engineering from Oakland University, and is a licensed Professional Engineer.

Frank W. Gayle

Deputy Director, Office of Advanced Manufacturing | NIST

Dr. Frank W. Gayle is Deputy Director of the Office of Advanced Manufacturing at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), as well as Deputy Director of the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office, an interagency team with core staff hosted at NIST. The latter office coordinates Federal activities in advanced manufacturing and is the Congressionally-designated National Program Office for Manufacturing USA.

Frank earned a Doctor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and degrees in Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from Duke University. He was awarded the NIST Diversity award for his work in staff development and outreach to Minority Serving Institutions, and twice won the Department of Commerce Gold Medal, the Department’s highest award. He is a fellow of ASM International and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and a Member of the World Economic Forum – Global Future Council on Production.

John Vickers

Principal Technologist and Senior Leader for Advanced and In-Space Manufacturing | National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

John Vickers concurrently serves as a principal technologist for the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and in the senior leader position for advanced and in-space manufacturing in the Materials and Processes Laboratory at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Mr. Vickers is also the manager of the NASA National Center for Advanced Manufacturing. He has over 35 years of experience in materials and manufacturing related research and engineering for propulsion, spacecraft and scientific systems.

As principal technologist and senior leader, Mr. Vickers leads the nationwide NASA team for strategic technology planning and stewardship of crucial cross-cutting capabilities needed to accomplish the NASA goals of space exploration missions and to expand growth for the commercial space industry. He also represents the agency serving as the representative to the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Subcommittee on Advanced Manufacturing and the Subcommittee on Critical and Strategic Mineral Supply Chains.

Dean Bartles

President and Chief Executive Officer of the Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group | MTDG

Dr. Dean L. Bartles is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group. Prior to this, Dean was President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining. Prior to this position, Dean served as the President of the National Tooling and Machining Association. Prior to that, he recently served as the Director of the John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center at the University of New Hampshire and was previously the founding Executive Director of the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute in Chicago.

Dr. Bartles worked for General Dynamics Corporation for 30 years setting up and running manufacturing operations in Egypt, Turkey, and the US and prior to that he worked for Fairchild Republic Company. He recently served as the 2016-2017 President of the North American Manufacturing Research Institute, the 2016 President of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the founding Chairman of the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition, and the Chairman of the Board of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining. Dean graduated from Indiana State University earning a Ph. D. in Technology Management with a concentration in Manufacturing Systems.

Chief Technology Officer | Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI)|BioFabUSA

Thomas Bollenbach, Ph.D. is Chief Technology Officer at the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI)|BioFabUSA. Prior to joining ARMI, Tom served as Vice President of Research and Development at Harvard Apparatus Regenerative Technology, where he led the development of cell- and biomaterial-based tracheal, bronchial and esophageal implants.

Tom joined the HART from Organogenesis, where he implemented and completed IND-enabling preclinical programs for a bioengineered living skin graft, and maintained strong cross-functional interactions with Clinical Operations, Manufacturing and Business Units to provide scientific support to corporate strategies. Tom received his B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Waterloo, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Notre Dame, and completed postdoctoral research at Cornell University.

Chief Technology Officer | Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII)

Haresh was appointed CTO of CESMII, The Smart Manufacturing Institute, starting March 1, 2018. He brings over 29 years of experience in an industrial RD&E environment covering development and deployment of Smart Manufacturing technologies including sensing, automation, control, modeling, simulation and analytics for applications in continuous, hybrid and discrete manufacturing operations.

In his role as CTO for CESMII, Haresh oversees the technology mission, road map and objectives of CESMII. He is responsible for developing the institute’s project portfolio for Smart Manufacturing technologies spanning advanced sensors, controls, modeling, analytics and platforms for manufacturing. He oversees the development and application of the nation’s first open, collaborative Smart Manufacturing technology platform for industrial applications. In addition, he provides guidance on the institute’s technical program content for training and workforce development.

Prior to joining CESMII, Haresh was Director of Digital Manufacturing & Automation Technologies at Arconic/Alcoa. Haresh was responsible for developing the strategy for Smart Manufacturing and deploying solutions that drove productivity across the company’s discrete and hybrid operations. His expertise in modeling, simulation, advanced sensing, automation, analytics and visualization were key to developing the technical strategy, architecture and approach. Haresh has a successful history of projects developing model-based process control and simulation systems for several unit operations at Arconic/Alcoa. Haresh represented Arconic/Alcoa at the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC) for over 8 years, briefly holding the position of Vice Chairman.

Haresh holds a Ph.D. and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University, Illinois and a B.E. Mechanical Engineering from Maharaja Sayajirao University, India.

President & Chief Technology Officer | Manufacturing Times Digital (MxD)

Federico Sciammarella serves as the President & CTO of MxD, he is in charge of developing and implementing the technology vision for the institute and is looking forward to leading the outstanding team that is currently in place. Federico was previously an associate professor at Northern Illinois University where he directed the Advanced Research in Materials and Manufacturing for more than 10 years which generated over $2.5million dollars in funding and created a launch pad for many students and technologies in advanced manufacturing. He has a long list of publications and patents for applications in laser assisted machining and additive manufacturing. His experience in creating research which always focused on applications for industry fits perfectly into the MxD mission of providing value to its membership.

Chief Technology Officer | Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI)

Uday Vaidya serves as the Chief Technology Officer for IACMI-The Composites Institute. He is also the University of Tennessee – Oak Ridge National Laboratory (UT-ORNL) Governor’s Chair in Advanced Composites Manufacturing. IACMI (Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation) comprises over 160 member companies. At ORNL Vaidya works within the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) on advanced composites and hybrid additive manufacturing.

Vaidya also serves as the Director of the University of Tennessee’s Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility (FCMF) at UT. Vaidya is an expert on the manufacturing and product development with fiber reinforced polymer composites. His work focuses on lightweight and energy efficient composite for the automotive, transportation, wind, aerospace, infrastructure, defense and industrial applications. Vaidya serves as the Editor in Chief for Elsevier’s Composites B: Engineering journal. He engages a broad range of undergraduate and graduate students in experiential learning with composites technologies.

Chief Technology Officer | Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM)

Arnie Kravitz is the CTO of Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM). In this role, Arnie drives ARM’s technical vision to help the organization fulfill its mission of increasing U.S. global competitiveness by accelerating innovative technologies that make robots more accessible to U.S. manufacturers. He achieves this goal, in part, by convening experts and stakeholders from among ARM’s industrial, academic, non-profit and government partners.

Arnie has spent over 37 years designing, developing, and manufacturing a large portfolio of products that include aquatic robots, autonomous vehicles, robotic, augmented, and virtual reality vision systems, self-learning inference engine-based systems, commercial consumer electronics, and cryptographic devices. He has taught as an Adjunct Professor at The Johns Hopkins University and has significant experience exploiting emerging tools and techniques to rapidly transform new ideas into manufactured products. Arnie holds a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Chief Manufacturing Officer | Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

Thomas Kurfess is the Chief Manufacturing Officer for Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In this position he is responsible for the strategic planning for advanced manufacturing at ORNL. He is also the Manufacturing Science Division Interim Director. His research focuses on the design and development of advanced systems by rapidly developing, scaling and integrating new technologies into production operations. Kurfess has significant experience in production operations, manufacturing systems and policy issues related to advanced manufacturing. Prior to joining ORNL, he was Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control.

During 2012-2013, Kurfess was on leave serving as the Assistant Director for Advanced Manufacturing at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States of America. In this position, he had responsibility for engaging the federal sector and the greater scientific community to identify possible areas for policy actions related to manufacturing. He is Past President of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). He is currently serving on the Board of Governors for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Board of directors for SME, the Board of Director for the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS), the Board of Trustees for the MT Connect Institute, and the Executive Committee of MxD (formerly the Digital Design and Manufacturing Innovation Institute). He earned his PhD, SM and SB in mechanical engineering, and an SM in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Brandon Ribic

Technology Director | America Makes

Brandon Ribic was named Technology Director of America Makes on October 1, 2019. Driven by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), America Makes is the national accelerator for AM and the first of eight Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (MIIs) established and managed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) as public-private partnerships. America Makes is also a member of the Manufacturing USA® (MFG USA) network, which seeks to secure U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing.

Previously, Dr. Ribic served as a Joining Engineer within the Rolls-Royce Corporation Materials Technology Center. In this capacity, Dr. Ribic led the Materials Technology Center efforts in additive manufacturing (AM) process modeling and in-situ process monitoring. Specifically, he has spent more than six years researching and developing welding and AM processes for various titanium and nickel superalloy gas turbine engine components. Dr Ribic has led and participated in multiple Metals Affordability Initiative projects focused on AM of nickel superalloys during the last three years. He also successfully developed, qualified, and productionized (TRL 7) the first ever CMSX-4 AM repair for Rolls-Royce.

Brandon earned his doctoral degree in Materials Science and Engineering in 2011 from the Pennsylvania State University under the advisement of Prof. T. DebRoy. Dr. Ribic has several patents pending in the area of laser AM. He is also a member of the American Welding Society (AWS) Graduate Fellowship, co-chair of the AWS High Energy Beam Welding and Cutting committee, and chair of the AWS Laser Hybrid Welding subcommittee.