Clemson professor elected director of Society of Manufacturing Engineers

CLEMSON, SC – September 15, 2010 – Thomas R. Kurfess, BMW Chair of Manufacturing in the Clemson University automotive engineering department, has been elected a director of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers for 2011.

The governing body of the international professional society is comprised of industry and academic leaders from diverse backgrounds representing a wide array of manufacturing disciplines.

It’s a high honor to attain this level of leadership in the profession, and Tom will serve the society well, said Imtiaz Haque, chairman of the automotive engineering department. We’re proud to have him on our team and excited about his achievement.

Based at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research in Greenville, Kurfess is an expert on automotive manufacturing. His research focuses on the design and development of high-precision and high-production throughput manufacturing and measurement systems.

A former professor at Carnegie Mellon University and Georgia Tech, he joined the Clemson faculty in 2005. He earned degrees in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Kurfess has been invited to speak Nov. 5 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ annual international economic forum in El Paso on The U.S.–Mexico Manufacturing Connection: The Automotive Industry.

Kurfess has received a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award and the Presidential Faculty Fellowship Award presented at the White House. A Society of Manufacturing Engineers member since 1983, he is the 1996 recipient of the society’s Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award and joined the 2006 class of SME Fellows.

Founded in 1932, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers has members in more than 70 countries and is supported by a network of technical communities and chapters worldwide. It offers several industry standard certifications and publishes two peer-reviewed scholarly journals as well as books, educational videos and technical papers.