22 recipients, age 35 or younger, are recognized for exceptional contributions and accomplishments in manufacturing

SME, the professional association committed to advancing manufacturing and developing a skilled workforce, has announced its lineup of 2022 Sandra L. Bouckley Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineers. The 22 awardees were selected based on their diverse manufacturing backgrounds, technology advancements/improvements and state-of-the-art research. The 2022 award namesake is 2017 SME President Sandra L. Bouckley, FSME, P.Eng., former SME CEO and a previous vice president of manufacturing systems, supply chain management and lean at GKN Driveline Americas.

“These young professionals have demonstrated their ability to design, develop and execute new, impactful technologies within academic institutions, research labs and across a variety of industries,” said Robert Willig, SME executive director and CEO. “We’re proud to recognize their outstanding achievements in academia and industry.”

While membership in SME is not required for this recognition, each of the 2022 Sandra L. Bouckley Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineers are part of the SME community, having been members prior to their selection:

Bruno Azeredo, PhD
Fulton Development Assistant Professor of Manufacturing Engineering
Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona

Wen Chen, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, Massachusetts

Xu Chen, PhD
Bryan T. McMinn Endowed Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
University of Washington
Seattle

Nancy Diaz-Elsayed, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of South Florida
Hillsborough County, Florida

Amy Elliott, PhD
Scientist
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Thomas Feldhausen, PhD
Research Staff Member & Technical Lead for Hybrid Manufacturing
Manufacturing Automation & Controls Group
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Knoxville, Tennessee

Kelvin Fu, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Delaware
Newark, Delaware

Michael Gomez, PhD
Senior Innovation R&D Engineer
MSC Industrial Supply Co.
Knoxville, Tennessee

Jinah Jang, PhD
Associate Professor
Convergence IT Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
School of Interdisciplinary Bioscience and Bioengineering
Pohang University of Science and Technology
Pohang, South Korea

Bo Jin, PhD
Research Scientist/Professor
University of Southern California
Los Angeles

Venkata Charan Kantumuchu
Global Quality Director
Electrex Inc.
Edmond, Oklahoma

Geoff Karpa
Applications Engineer Staff
Manufacturing Technology
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.
Fort Worth, Texas

Vipin Kumar, PhD
R&D Associate Staff Member
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Knoxville, Tennessee

Megan McGovern, PhD, PE
Senior Researcher
Manufacturing Systems Research Lab
General Motors Global Research & Development
Detroit

Laura Pahren
Machine Learning Software Engineer
Procter & Gamble Co.
Mason, Ohio

Kyle Saleeby, PhD
R&D Staff Member
Manufacturing Automation & Controls Group
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Knoxville, Tennessee

Ryan Sekol, PhD
Staff Researcher ‒ Battery Cell Manufacturing Lead
Manufacturing Systems Research Lab
General Motors Research & Development
Warren, Michigan

Xuan Song, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Iowa Technology Institute
University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa

Peng "Edward" Wang, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Endowed Robley D. Evans Faculty Fellow
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky

Sarah Wolff, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas

Yang Yang, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
San Diego State University
San Diego

Xiaowei Yue, PhD
Assistant Professor
Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia

SME has highlighted the accomplishments of over 470 young manufacturing engineers — and their impact on manufacturing — for over four decades through this award. SME will welcome nominations for the 2023 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineers Award by Aug. 1, 2022, at sme.org/oyme.