The University System of Georgia (USG) Board of Regents honored 12 Georgia Tech faculty members across campus with Regents’ appointments at its April meeting.

Among those recognized is Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) Executive Director Thomas Kurfess, who was named Regents' Professor. The highest distinction awarded by the USG, Regents' distinctions recognize faculty members for academic, innovation, and entrepreneurial excellence.

About Kurfess

Thomas Kurfess

Regents’ Professor, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control

Kurfess researches advanced manufacturing systems, designing, developing, and optimizing new approaches for complex production systems. He helps lead a $65 million effort to use artificial intelligence in manufacturing and transform Georgia’s industrial economy. The Georgia AI Manufacturing (GA-AIM) Technology Corridor is creating and deploying new AI innovations across all manufacturing sectors while training the necessary talent and workforce.

In addition to his role as executive director of GTMI, Kurfess is the 2023-24 president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). 

He served as chief manufacturing officer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 2019 to 2021, overseeing strategic planning in advanced manufacturing. Kurfess also previously led the advanced manufacturing team at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Obama administration from 2012 to 2013.

Kurfess is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, ASME, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

When U.S. Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter from Georgia’s 1st District visited Atlanta recently, one of his top priorities was meeting with the experts at Georgia Tech’s 20,000-square-foot Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF).

Carter was recently named the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s chair of the Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee, a group that concerns itself primarily with contamination of soil, air, noise, and water, as well as emergency environmental response, whether physical or cybersecurity.

Because AMPF’s focus dovetails with subcommittee interests, the facility was a fitting stop for Carter, who was welcomed for an afternoon tour and series of live demonstrations. Programs within Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute — specifically the Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM) and Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) — were well represented.

“Innovation is extremely important,” Carter said during his April 1 visit. “In order to handle some of our problems, we’ve got to have adaptation, mitigation, and innovation. I’ve always said that the greatest innovators, the greatest scientists in the world, are right here in the United States. I’m so proud of Georgia Tech and what they do for our state and for our nation.”

Carter’s AMPF visit began with an introduction by Thomas Kurfess, Regents' Professor and HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute; Steven Ferguson, principal research scientist and managing director at Georgia AIM; research engineer Kyle Saleeby; and Donna Ennis, the Enterprise Innovation Institute’s director of community engagement and program development, and co-director of Georgia AIM.

Ennis provided an overview of Georgia AIM, while Ferguson spoke on the Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium and Kurfess detailed the AMPF origin story, before introducing four live demonstrations.

The first of these featured Chuck Easley, Professor of the Practice in the Scheller College of Business, who elaborated on supply chain issues. Afterward, Alan Burl of EPICS: Enhanced Preparation for Intelligent Cybermanufacturing Systems and mechanical engineer Melissa Foley led a brief information session on hybrid turbine blade repair.

Finally, GaMEP project manager Michael Barker expounded on GaMEP’s cybersecurity services, and Deryk Stoops of Central Georgia Technical College detailed the Georgia AIM-sponsored AI robotics training program at the Georgia Veterans Education Career Transition Resource (VECTR) Center, which offers training and assistance to those making the transition from military to civilian life.

The topic of artificial intelligence, in all its subtlety and nuance, was of particular interest to Carter.

“AI is the buzz in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “Whether it be healthcare, energy, [or] science, we on the Energy and Commerce Committee look at it from a sense [that there’s] a very delicate balance, and we understand the responsibility. But we want to try to benefit from this as much as we can.”

“I heard something today I haven’t heard before," Carter continued, "and that is instead of calling it artificial intelligence, we refer to it as ‘augmented intelligence.’ I think that’s a great term, and certainly something I’m going to take back to Washington with me.”

“It was a pleasure to host Rep. Carter for a firsthand look at AMPF," shared Ennis, "which is uniquely positioned to offer businesses the opportunity to collaborate with Georgia Tech researchers and students and to hear about Georgia AIM.

“At Georgia AIM, we’re committed to making the state a leader in artificial intelligence-assisted manufacturing, and we’re grateful for Congressman Carter’s interest and support of our efforts."

 

The CAMX expo is the largest, most comprehensive composites and advanced materials event in North America. This year, the event was held in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center. A record number (500+) of exhibitors displayed their material, processing equipment and latest innovations at the annual industry event.

Several thousand engineers, technical professionals, sales, marketing and business development experts from all corners of the world took advantage of the CAMX expo and conference programming to increase their manufacturing and process knowledge, meet their supply chain, build new networks and collaborate on sustainable industry solutions in the aerospace, automotive, wind power and other markets.

As part of the event, the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) hosted an onsite tour of its Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF) to a select group of industry expo attendees.

AMPF is a 20,000 square foot research and development high bay manufacturing facility located on the Georgia Tech campus supporting industrial, academic, and government stakeholders related to manufacturing research and also serves as a teaching laboratory to train the next generation of engineers, scientists and manufacturing experts. Made possible by a $3 million gift from the Delta Air Lines Foundation, this facility enables manufacturing innovation projects of almost all shapes from additive/hybrid manufacturing to composites, digital manufacturing, Industry 4.0, industrial robotics, and artificial intelligence.

Recently, Georgia Tech and the AMPF facility are supporting a statewide initiative that combines artificial intelligence and manufacturing innovations with transformational workforce and outreach programs.

The AMPF tour was led by Kyle Saleeby, research engineer in GTMI, who tailored the tour to feature manufacturing technologies related to metal composites and advanced manufacturing capabilities for 3D printed metals. This included additive, subtractive, and hybrid manufacturing technologies along with metal powder/alloy making capabilities that AMPF utilizes.

“CAMX is grateful to Kyle for presenting an informative tour of the impressive AMPF facility, said Raj Manchanda, chief technology officer of the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE®). “Nearly 25 CAMX attendees who participated in the tour provided positive feedback not only on the state-of-the-art hybrid manufacturing equipment that AMPF houses from leading OEMs, but also the capability of the Georgia Tech AMPF faculty and brilliant graduate students who are developing adaptable manufacturing solutions integrating proven machining technologies with advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, additive manufacturing, and more.”

At the expo, GTMI was invited to host and lead a panel discussion of current digital manufacturing trends on day two of the CAMX show. Three industry experts from GTMI’s partner network participated in a discussion moderated by Kyle Saleeby. The panelists were Elaine Winchester from Plyable, Andre Wegner from Authentise and Rodney Elmore from Microsoft.

“At the advanced manufacturing pilot facility, we are always proud host so many great organizations, institutions and industry colleagues to share our advanced manufacturing research,” said Saleeby.

Thomas Kurfess, Ph.D., P.E., was elected president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)--he will be the 142nd president. Kurfess is the chief manufacturing officer of the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute. He is the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control and professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

He also serves as the chief technology officer at the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. He served as the chief manufacturing officer and founding director for the manufacturing science division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 2019 to 2021. He served 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 2012 and 2013, coordinating advanced manufacturing research and development.

American Society of Mechanical Engineers (news release) >>

Shreyes N. Melkote, who holds the Morris M. Bryan, Jr. Professorship in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, won the 2023 SME Gold Medal award which recognizes outstanding service to the manufacturing engineering profession in technical communications through published literature, technical writings, or lectures.

SME is a nonprofit association committed to advancing widespread adoption of manufacturing technologies and developing North America’s talent and capabilities. He was among seven 2023 SME International Honor Award winners are recognized for their significant contributions to manufacturing in the areas of manufacturing technologies, processes, technical writing, education, research and management, and service to SME. The 2023 SME International Awards Gala was held on June 5 at the Royal Park Hotel in Rochester, Michigan.

Melkote also serves as executive director of the Novelis Innovation Hub at Georgia Tech and as associate director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute. Melkote’s research focuses on the science and technology of manufacturing processes, industrial robotics for manufacturing, and data-driven methods for cyber manufacturing.

For over six decades, SME’s International Honor Awards have identified professionals whose bodies of work have led to critical breakthroughs and advancements in manufacturing technologies, processes, and education as well as honored members for their volunteerism.

“These seven professionals are among the most accomplished thought leaders in manufacturing, and I’m proud to acknowledge they also hold membership in SME,” said Bob Willig, executive director and CEO of SME. “Though their backgrounds are varied, all share a penchant for continuous improvement where status quo just doesn’t cut it.”

Melkote has published over 280 technical papers on these topics, has one U.S. patent and has successfully transitioned technology to industry. Melkote is a recipient of the SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, the ASME Blackall Machine Tool and Gage Award and several best paper awards. He served as president of SME's North American Manufacturing Research Institution (NAMRI) from 2014-15, and as ASME Swanson fellow and assistant director for Technology at the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office at NIST from 2015-16. Melkote is a fellow of SME, ASME and CIRP and has been a SME member since 1994.

SME 2023 International Honor Award Recipients:

• SME Gold Medal — Shreyes N. Melkote, Ph.D., FSME, Morris M. Bryan, Jr. Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
• Eli Whitney Productivity Award — Lonnie Love, Ph.D., FSME, Fellow, National Security Programs, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Joseph A. Siegel Service Award — Sandra Bouckley, FSME, P.Eng., Executive Director & CEO (retired), 2017 President, SME, Southfield, Michigan
• Donald C. Burnham Manufacturing Management Award — Vaughn M. Hall Jr., International Vice President and General Manager, Corning Precision Materials, Corning Inc., Asan, South Korea
• SME Frederick W. Taylor Research Medal — Shaochen Chen, Ph.D., Chair and Zable Endowed Chair Professor, NanoEngineering Department, University of California, San Diego, San Diego
• SME Albert M. Sargent Progress Award – Subir Chowdhury, FSME, Chairman and CEO, ASI Consulting Group, Bingham Farms, Michigan
• SME Education Award — Laine Mears, Ph.D., FSME, CMfgE, PE, BMW SmartState Endowed Chair of Automotive Manufacturing, University Centennial Professor and Department Chair, Automotive Engineering Department, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina

Chuck Zhang, GTMI faculty member and the Harold E. Smalley Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, is one of five faculty members will help grow the College of Engineering’s work in high-impact cyber-physical systems security (CPSS) as new Cybersecurity Fellows.

Fellows represent expertise in a variety of areas of CPSS, which addresses risks where cyber and physical worlds intersect. That includes the Internet of Things (IoT), industrial systems, smart grids, medical devices, autonomous vehicles, robotics, and more.

“As devices, systems, and the world continue to become more connected, cyber-related threats that were traditionally limited to the digital domain have made their way to physical systems,” said Raheem Beyah, dean of the College, Southern Company Chair, and a cybersecurity expert. “The College of Engineering has world-renowned cybersecurity and artificial intelligence researchers. This new cohort will continue to expand the College’s breadth of expertise and leadership in CPSS.”

The three-year fellowship was made possible by a gift from Kyle Seymour, a 1982 mechanical engineering graduate who retired as president and CEO of S&C Electric Company in 2020. Seymour wanted to help increase cybersecurity-related research and instruction within the College.

School chairs nominated potential fellows, who were evaluated and selected by a committee of senior cybersecurity researchers and College leaders. 

Five faculty members will help grow the College of Engineering’s work in high-impact cyber-physical systems security (CPSS) as new Cybersecurity Fellows.

Fellows represent expertise in a variety of areas of CPSS, which addresses risks where cyber and physical worlds intersect. That includes the Internet of Things (IoT), industrial systems, smart grids, medical devices, autonomous vehicles, robotics, and more.

“As devices, systems, and the world continue to become more connected, cyber-related threats that were traditionally limited to the digital domain have made their way to physical systems,” said Raheem Beyah, dean of the College, Southern Company Chair, and a cybersecurity expert. “The College of Engineering has world-renowned cybersecurity and artificial intelligence researchers. This new cohort will continue to expand the College’s breadth of expertise and leadership in CPSS.”

The three-year fellowship was made possible by a gift from Kyle Seymour, a 1982 mechanical engineering graduate who retired as president and CEO of S&C Electric Company in 2020. Seymour wanted to help increase cybersecurity-related research and instruction within the College.

School chairs nominated potential fellows, who were evaluated and selected by a committee of senior cybersecurity researchers and College leaders. 

View the new Cybersecurity Fellows >>

Kan (Kevin) Wang, senior research engineer, in the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) was selected to be part of the Research Faculty Teaching Fellows Program (Fall 2023/Spring 2024). The program aims to enhance the interaction across the Institute’s teaching and research activities. It offers research faculty the opportunity to become first-time instructors, and for those who have taught in the past, the ability to turn their cutting-edge research programs into instructional programs that enhance the teaching missions in the academic units.

Wang proposed a new course, Resilience of Biomanufacturing Supply Chains, which won his placement into the program.

“This Research Faculty Teaching Fellows Program will allow me to introduce important research topics in my research area to more Industrial Systems and Engineering (ISyE) students,” said Wang. “Case studies developed in my research projects and presented in the course will show students how to apply the knowledge learned from this course in actual industrial scenarios.”

Wang is also hoping that this teaching opportunity could help him better organize his own knowledge and research ideas in this area, and lead to new ideas that may develop into new collaborations between him and ISyE faculty. These collaborations could result in new research proposals and/or peer-reviewed papers. Plus, students taking his course would be provided opportunities to join new research projects in his lab.

According to Wang, cell therapy manufacturing is a nascent industry that will have critical workforce needs in five to ten years. He wants to expose more industrial engineering students into this emerging new industry.

This year, the Novelis Scholars program review committee at the Georgia Institute of Technology selected seven graduate scholars and four undergraduate scholars. This is the second year of the Novelis scholars program.

The Novelis Innovation Hub at Georgia Tech launched the Novelis Scholars program in 2021. The program seeks to recognize and cultivate top graduate students conducting research in various aspects of sustainability, high-throughput materials discovery, surface functionalization, and artificial intelligence (AI)/data science applications in materials, manufacturing, and supply chain technology.

Novelis has partnered with Georgia Tech to collaborate on research and development, and promote the education of the next generation of engineers dedicated to making better products that lead to a more sustainable world. Novelis is headquartered in Atlanta with a global footprint, over 12,500 employees, and recorded $17.1 billion in net sales for its 2022 fiscal year. Novelis expanded its research partnership with Georgia Tech in 2021.

The 2022-2023 Novelis Scholars are:

Graduate

• Bettina Arkhurst - Ph.D. candidate in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
• Juanita Hidalgo - Ph.D. candidate in the School of Materials Science and Engineering
• Conlain Kelly – Ph.D. candidate in Computational Science and Engineering Undergraduate
• Walter Parker - Ph.D. candidate in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
• Sushree Jagriti Sahoo - Ph.D. candidate in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
• Alexandra (Lexie) Schueller - Ph.D. candidate in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
• Sakshi Sharma - Master’s student in the School of Materials Science and Engineering

Undergraduate

• Daniel Johnson - pursuing his B.S. in mechanical engineering
• Suemin Lee - pursuing her B.S. in civil engineering with minors in sustainable cities and computer science
• Brandon Perry - pursuing his B.S. in materials science and engineering
• Sarang Pujari – pursuing his B.S/M.S. in computer science with a minor in climate change

Detailed profiles for this year’s 2022-2023 Novelis Scholars can be found here.

The Novelis Innovation Hub expects to issue its next call for Novelis Scholars for the 2023‐2024 Academic Year in late Spring/early Summer 2023.

 

Shreyes N. Melkote, who holds the Morris M. Bryan, Jr. Professorship in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, has been awarded a $3 million Future Manufacturing Research Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Melkote, who is also the Associate Director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute and Executive Director of the Novelis Innovation Hub, will act as principal investigator alongside four other researchers, including Woodruff School Professor Emeritus David Rosen, and will explore a data-driven approach to cyber manufacturing. The grant will also support Melkote’s efforts to work with academic and industry partners to develop educational tools to train a future manufacturing workforce from diverse backgrounds.

“We are excited to have the resources that the NSF has provided,” Melkote said. “It’s the best type of resource because it allows us to do basic research.”

Cyber manufacturing looks to leverage recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, cloud technology and the expanding reach of the Internet-of-Things to reduce the cost and time of producing discrete parts. Presently, the manufacturing process is compartmentalized, with design, fabrication, and distribution heavily reliant on direct communication between the parties, and often involves multiple iterations of a design before the customer’s needs are met.

In a future cyber manufacturing ecosystem, the process is digitally unified across the supply chain and potential issues in fabrication can be flagged automatically and early in the design process, minimizing the need for multiple prototypes. The final design can then swiftly be routed to those best equipped to produce the product based on the specifications.

This vision of a fully automated, interconnected process has long been sought after and is considered the ‘holy grail’ of discrete parts manufacturing.

“It's an old problem,” Melkote said. “But we have new ways of potentially trying to solve it, and we have a critical mass of people and resources to help solve, or at least make a significant dent, in solving the problem.”

A crucial step in solving the problem requires digitizing and automating the complex series of decisions that begin when a new design for a product is completed. What are the manufacturing processes (and machines) required to produce the design? What processes create the most durable build, or the most cost-efficient? Can the design be altered for manufacturability without compromising functionality and quality?

For mass-produced discrete products or parts built to universal standards, these are questions to which suitable answers have been found through trial-and-error, but bespoke or new designs often require specialized knowledge about manufacturing processes and their capabilities. A company or individual will use their current level of understanding to discern how to move forward with a brand-new design.

“Fundamentally they are harnessing the knowledge derived from data they have tucked away somewhere and then using that to actually take a shot at figuring out how to make it,” Melkote explained. “But it would be great if they had all of these capabilities in an automated way. This grant is focused on how you generate the complex knowledge that individuals have acquired through experience.”

Melkote’s interdisciplinary approach will use generative machine learning and other artificial intelligence techniques to help automate this complex decision-making process. If a computer can infer the capabilities and limitations of an industrial manufacturing process and associated machines, then it should be able to make intelligent deductions about the entire manufacturing process, at least in theory. Extracting the data necessary to make this happen requires new methods that Melkote and his co-investigators will research.

“If I can teach a computer to be able to learn these things, the more data from successfully produced parts I can provide it, then its learning will improve and its ability to get close to telling me what all the types of things I can produce using a given process on a given machine will improve.”

The models and algorithms that would run this process could then be embedded in an automated cyber manufacturing service, which can analyze an uploaded design and provide a customer with instant feedback regarding recommended modifications, and projected costs, or even generate instructions and send them to the right machine. The work could see sweeping changes made to several manufacturing industries and democratize the way products are designed and made.

Alongside Rosen, Melkote will work closely with three other researchers, two of which have ties to Georgia Tech, including Matthew Gombolay, an assistant professor in the School of Interactive Computing, and Mahmoud Dinar, a former postdoctoral fellow at the Woodruff School and current Assistant Professor at California State University-Sacramento. Dr Gaurav Ameta, a research scientist at Siemens Corporate Technology will also work as co-principal investigator.

The grant is part of a wider national initiative that saw more than $30 million awarded to university-based research projects on advanced manufacturing and preparation of the manufacturing and STEM workforce for the future.

 

Article by Ian Sargent

The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute recently hosted its latest Internet of Things for Manufacturing (IoTfM) Symposium, focused on emerging IoT technologies in the manufacturing sector.

The yearly event was led by Andrew Dugenske, director of the Factory Information Systems (FIS) Center and a principal research engineer at Georgia Tech. Dugenske’s FIS Center focuses on advances in factory architectures, machine communication, cloud computing, edge devices, machine learning, artificial intelligence, overall equipment effectiveness and cybersecurity.

The event delivered fresh insights from more than 20 industry leaders. Speakers shared exclusive learnings from actual IoTfM implementations. Industry thought leaders, major manufacturers and respected experts participated in this year’s eighth annual symposium.

Presenters this year included representatives from Ford Motor Company, Kimberly-Clark, Autodesk, McKinsey & Company, Capgemini, ACS, QCells, Intuitus, Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, Georgia Department of Economic Development, University of New Hampshire, and researchers across Georgia Tech.

John Morehouse, director of manufacturing for the Georgia Center for Innovation commented, “Having companies present their use cases is so valuable to other manufacturers and the resources that want to support them.”

Missed the symposium? You can download and view all presentations by visiting the 2022 IoTfM symposium webpage.

The event was sponsored by the state of Georgia’s innovation and manufacturing group, the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute and the Georgia Tech Factory Information Systems Center.

To learn more or to join next year’s invitation list, contact Andrew Dugenske at dugenske@gatech.edu.