Conference Speakers

SHAUN S. GLEASON, Ph.D.

Director, Cyber and Applied Data Analytics Division

National Security Sciences Directorate

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Dr. Shaun S. Gleason is the Director of the Cyber and Applied Data Analytics Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In this role, he is responsible for an R&D portfolio focused on cyber security and data analytics, and more specifically, these thrust areas: (1) cyber and information security, (2) cyber physical systems, (3) software vulnerability science, and (4) multi-modal data analytics and architectures.  From 2013 until 2018, Shaun was the Director of the Computational Sciences and Engineering Division at ORNL. From 2011 to 2013, he was Director of the Office of Institutional Planning and was responsible for ORNL’s strategic planning process and discretionary R&D investment. From 2008 to 2011, he was the Group Leader of the Imaging, Signals, and Machine Learning (ISML) Group at ORNL. Shaun has 30 years of experience in applied image processing and machine learning for industrial, security, and medical imaging applications. He earned the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a research focus on x-ray computed tomography and 2D and 3D model-based medical image segmentation. In 1998 he became the co-founder and VP of a preclinical medical imaging company, ImTek, Inc., that successfully transferred ORNL-developed technology into the commercial sector. After ImTek, Inc. was acquired by CTI, Inc. and then merged with Siemens Medical, he became the Director of the Preclinical Research Division of Siemens Medical until 2008, when he returned to ORNL to lead the ISML group in the Measurements Science and Systems Engineering Division. He has authored and coauthored over 100 publications, three book chapters, and has been issued 9 patents in the field of electrical engineering and computer vision. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, was chair of the East TN Chapter of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society and was an associate editor of the SPIE Journal of Electronic Imaging from 2008 until 2015.

MICHAEL F. MOLNAR, CMfgE PE SES

Director, Office of Advanced Manufacturing

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Mike Molnar is the founding director of the Office of Advanced Manufacturing at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office, an interagency team which serves as the Congressionally designated program office for Manufacturing USA. Mike also serves as the principal Commerce representative and co-Chair of the National Science and Technology Council, Subcommittee on Advanced Manufacturing. Prior to joining federal service in 2011 Mike had a nearly 30-year industry career in advanced manufacturing, with leadership roles in manufacturing technology development, corporate manufacturing engineering, capital planning, metrology, quality systems, robotics and flexible automation, and computer integrated manufacturing systems. Mid-career Mike served as the manufacturing policy Fellow in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Mike is an active contributor in professional societies and consortia, holding over 75 elected or appointed leadership positions - including President of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and now Governor of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Mike also serves as Scoutmaster of an active BSA troop and is proud to note both of his sons have achieved Eagle rank.

SUSAN SMYTH, Ph.D., FSME, NAE

Chief Scientist for GM Manufacturing

Director, Manufacturing Systems Research

General Motors (Ret.)

Dr. Susan Smyth recently retired as the Chief Scientist for global manufacturing at General Motors and the Director of GM R&D Manufacturing Systems Research Labs. In this capacity, she directed the creation of GM’s global manufacturing R&D strategies and oversaw innovation and implementation of its advanced manufacturing technology portfolio. In this role at General Motors, Susan was responsible for manufacturing technology research and development enabling the production of world class vehicle and propulsion systems and driving innovations to enhance quality, efficiency and flexibility of GM’s manufacturing systems. During her career at GM she held a variety of leadership positions in Manufacturing, Engineering, “Big Data” Analytics, and Research and Development. Susan is recognized as one of the strategic technology leaders inside and outside General Motors. She served as Chair of the U.S. Manufacturing Council, which advises the Secretary of Commerce on government policies and programs that affect United States manufacturing. She was the GM Executive Representative and Chair of the Manufacturing Technology Leadership Council at the United States Council for Automotive Research. She has also served as executive technology advisor to a number of prestigious research institutes (University of Michigan, MIT, Georgia Tech, and Shanghai Jiao-Tong University). Dr. Smyth has been recognized for her technical and business achievements with multiple international awards.  She was made a Fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers in 2015, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2018. She also serves as an advisor to the National Science Foundation (the United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education science and engineering). She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, a Master of Science degree in Optoelectronics and Information Technology, and a Doctorate in Physics (Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland).
 

ALAN I. TAUB, Ph.D.
Professor of Materials Science & Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan
Senior Technical Advisor, Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (LIFT)
Alan I. Taub was born September 10, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York.  He received a B.Sc. degree in materials engineering from Brown University in 1975, and an M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in applied physics from Harvard University, in 1975 and 1979 respectively. Dr. Taub joined the faculty of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan in the Fall of 2012. In this role, he is conducting research in advanced materials and processing while also serving in a leadership role as Senior Technical Advisor of the Manufacturing USA Institute, Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (LIFT).  LIFT is a public-private partnership to develop and deploy advanced lightweight metals manufacturing technologies, and implement education and training programs to prepare the workforce. Dr. Taub retired from General Motors in April 2012. Prior to his retirement, he was vice president for global research and development, leading GM’s advanced technical work activity, seven science laboratories around the world, and seven global science offices. He was promoted to vice president in 2009, after joining GM R&D as executive director in 2001.  Before joining GM, he worked at Ford Motor Company from 1993 to 2001 as a manager of the Lincoln vehicle engineering, vehicle crash safety, and materials science department. He also spent 15 years in research and development at General Electric (1979-1993). Dr. Taub has earned 26 patents and authored more than 70 papers and book chapters. Dr. Taub was elected to the NAE in 2006 for his contributions to the development of innovative electrical materials and automotive technologies, and leadership in the globalization of automotive research. He has served as an NAE Councillor since July 2016 and serves on the NAE Audit Committee and Executive Compensation Committee. He served on the NAE Committee on Membership (member, peer committee chair), Materials Engineering Peer Committee (member, vice chair, chair), the Section 9 Executive Committee (peer committee vice chair, chair and immediate past chair); and and the National Academies’ Committee on Review of the Research Program of the U.S. DRIVE Partnership, Phase 5. Dr. Taub serves on the boards of the startups CellEra and Brightway Vision and is on advisory committees for Samsung and Bocar. He is a technical advisor for the strategic venture capital fund, Auto Tech Ventures. He also serves on advisory boards for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California, Berkeley and SIMTech - Singapore’s national laboratory. Dr. Taub is on the ASM Silver Medal committee and previously served as chair for the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (VCAT) for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He was also a member of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) Energy Materials Blue Ribbon Panel. Dr. Taub was named a TMS fellow in 2019 and received the 2011 Acta Materialia Materials & Society Award. He delivered the 2017 Golick lecture at Missouri University of Science & Technology. He also received the Materials Research Society’s Special Recognition Award in 2004 and Woody White Service Award in 2002. He received the Brown University Engineering Alumni Medal in 2002.

Rob Ivester
Director, Federal Energy Management Program
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Department of Energy (DoE)

Robert W. Ivester currently serves as the Director of the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. FEMP oversees the implementation of policy and actions that result in energy efficiency implementation, renewable energy adoption, and reduction in energy and water use in federal government operations. Prior to this position, he served in AMO for six years. During that time, AMO launched five Manufacturing USA Institutes, the Critical Materials Hub, and hundreds of small R&D and technical assistance projects across the Nation. He also worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology for over 16 years, leading and performing research in advanced manufacturing. He has been an instructor for the Johns Hopkins University Engineering for Professionals program for graduate-level studies in manufacturing engineering since 2001. He is a SME Fellow and a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He received his doctorate in engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Master of Science in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.