Tony G. Chen is an Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech. His research focuses on designing mechanical intelligent mechanisms for various robotics applications. Mechanical intelligence focuses on developing mechanisms and robotic platforms that make challenges for perception, control, and autonomy easier or more robust for natural, unstructured, and often unpredictable environments by virtue of their physical designs. To achieve this design approach, two main and common methods are often deployed: rapid prototyping and bio-inspiration. Chen is especially interested in three major research application areas: (i) field robotics where designing new robotic mobility platforms or equipping existing platforms with capabilities of manipulation, (ii) manipulation tasks in home and industrial environments, and (iii) biomimetic robotics for biological study.

Mohsen Moghaddam is the Gary C. Butler Family Associate Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He directs the Symbiotic and Augmented Intelligence Lab (SAIL), where his research focuses on developing human-centered computational models, algorithms, and tools at the intersection of AI and spatial computing to enhance learning and creativity in various cognitive and psychomotor tasks within industrial settings. Previously, Dr. Moghaddam was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and an Affiliated Faculty with the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University in Boston. He has also served as a Visiting Professor with the HumanTech project at Politecnico di Milano and as a Visiting Scholar at the Next Level Lab, Harvard University. Dr. Moghaddam earned his PhD in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and completed a Postdoctoral Associate position at the GE-Purdue Partnership in Research and Innovation in Advanced Manufacturing. His research has been supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. Navy, and industry partners.

Shreyas Kousik is an assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Previously, Shreyas was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, working in the ASL under Prof. Marco. Kousik completed a postdoc with Prof. Grace Gao in the NAV Lab. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, advised by Prof. Ram Vasudevan in the ROAHM Lab and received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, advised by Prof. Antonia Antoniou.

Kousik’s research is focused on guaranteeing safety in autonomy via collision avoidance methods for robots. His lab’s goal is to translate safety in math to safety on real robots by exploring ways to model uncertainty from autonomous perception and estimation systems and ensure that these models are practical for downstream planning and control tasks

Neu's research involves the understanding and prediction of the fatigue behavior of materials and closely related topics, typically when the material must resist degradation and failure in harsh environments. Specifically, he has published in areas involving thermomechanical fatigue, fretting fatigue, creep and environmental effects, viscoplastic deformation and damage development, and related constitutive and finite-element modeling with a particular emphasis on the role of the materials microstructure on the physical deformation and degradation processes. He has investigated a broad range of structural materials including steels, titanium alloys, nickel-base superalloys, metal matrix composites, molybdenum alloys, high entropy alloys, medical device materials, and solder alloys used in electronic packaging. His research has widespread applications in aerospace, surface transportation, power generation, machinery components, medical devices, and electronic packaging. His work involves the prediction of the long-term reliability of components operating in extreme environments such as the hot section of a gas turbine system for propulsion or energy generation. His research is funded by some of these industries as well as government funding agencies.

Dr. Emily D. Sanders is an Assistant Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. She obtained her Ph.D. at Georgia Tech in 2021, where she developed new topology optimization methods for design of tension-only cable nets, elastostatic cloaking devices, and multiscale structures and components. Dr. Sanders hold a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University and a master’s degree from Stanford University.

Zach Brunson is a Research Engineer in the G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, working primarily at the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF). Prior to Georgia Tech, Zach was a graduate teaching fellow and research assistant at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden Colorado where he received his Ph.D. (2021) and M.S. (2019) in Mechanical Engineering studying theoretical and experimental mechanics of inelastic anisotropic and asymmetric materials. Prior to pursuing a graduate degree, Zach gained experience working as a measurements field engineer in the petroleum industry (2013-2015) after earning his B.S. (2013) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado in Boulder Colorado. 

Zach’s research revolves around as manufactured material property prediction, measurement, and certification. The two major thrusts of his research are: (1) theoretical and experimental mechanics of inelastic anisotropic and asymmetric materials and (2) sensor development for process monitoring and part qualification in directed energy deposition (DED) additive manufacturing (AM) systems. By developing a more complete understanding of the elastic limits of anisotropic and asymmetric materials, we can better describe both the deformation during manufacturing processes such as forging, forming, or rolling and the final strength of as manufactured (conventionally or AM) components. By developing sensor systems to monitor AM processes such as DED, we can begin to better inform the creation of predictive models, identify critical events related to part performance, improve feedback controls for more reliability and repeatability, and ultimately qualify processes and certify components.

Professor Kurfess began his academic career at Carnegie Mellon University where he rose to the rank of Associate Professor. In 1994, he moved to the Georgia Institute of Technology where he rose to the rank of Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. In 2005, he was named Professor and BMW Chair of Manufacturing in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research. In 2012, he returned to Georgia Tech as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control.

During 2012-2013, Dr. 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 was responsible for coordinating Federal advanced manufacturing R&D, addressing issues related to technology commercialization, identifying gaps in current Federal R&D in advanced manufacturing, and developing strategies to address these gaps. During  2019-2021 he was on leave serving as the Chief Manufacturing Officer and the Founding Director for the Manufacturing Science Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he was responsible for strategic planning in advanced manufacturing.

Professor Kurfess has served as a special consultant of the United Nations to the Government of Malaysia in the area of applied mechatronics and manufacturing, and as a participating guest at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in their Precision Engineering Program. He has testified in a number of patent cases, including testifying at the International Trade Commission (ITC). He is currently the President of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and also serves on the Board of Governors of ASME. He is the CTO of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) and serves on its Board of Directors. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), and on the Board of Trustees of the MT Connect Institute. He served on the Board of Directors for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and was the President of SME in 2018. He is an appointed member of the Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Advisory Committee for Nuclear Security, and an appointed member of the Department of the Navy Science and Technology Board.

His research focuses on the design and development of advanced systems targeting the automotive sector (OEM and supplier) including vehicle and production systems. He has significant experience in high precision manufacturing and metrology systems. He has received numerous awards including a National Science Foundation (NSF) Young Investigator Award, an NSF Presidential Faculty Fellowship Award, the ASME Pi Tau Sigma Award, SME Young Manufacturing Engineer of the Year Award, the ASME Blackall Machine Tool and Gage Award, the ASME Gustus L. Larson Award, an ASME Swanson Federal Award, and the SME Education Award. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the AAAS, the SME and the ASME.

Aarn Stebner works at the intersection of manufacturing, machine learning, materials, and mechanics. He joined the Georgia Tech faculty as an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering in 2020.

Previously, he was the Rowlinson Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at the Colorado School of Mines (2013 – 2020), a postdoctoral scholar at the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of the California Institute of Technology (2012 – 2013), a Lecturer in the Segal Design Institute at Northwestern University (2009 – 2012), a Research Scientist at Telezygology Inc. establishing manufacturing and “internet of things” technologies for shape memory alloy-secured latching devices (2008-2009), a Research Fellow at the NASA Glenn Research Center developing smart materials technologies for morphing aircraft structures (2006 – 2008), and a Mechanical Engineer at the Electric Device Corporation in Canfield, OH developing manufacturing and automation technologies for the circuit breaker industry (1995 – 2000).