2025 SME College of Fellows

Since 1986, the SME College of Fellows has honored those members who have made outstanding contributions to the social, technological and educational aspects of the manufacturing profession. These seven industry professionals have earned this highly prestigious honor through 20 years or more of dedication and service to manufacturing.

Bopaya Bidanda, PhD, FSME
Ernest E. Roth Professor of Industrial Engineering
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Bopaya Bidanda is the Ernest E. Roth professor of industrial engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, where he returned to the faculty after serving 21 years as department chair. He also directs the Center for Industry Studies and the Manufacturing Assistance Center Initiative, which builds manufacturing skills in underserved communities.

Bidanda’s research spans reverse engineering, manufacturing modernization and global production systems. He is editor of the Maynard Industrial & Systems Engineering Handbook, Sixth Edition, widely regarded as the definitive reference for the discipline.

He is a past president of the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE), has served on the ABET Board of Delegates, and has led international accreditation efforts across multiple continents.

Bidanda is a two-time Fulbright Scholar, first to Uruguay in 2004 and later to India as a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Scholar. SME Member Since 1988

Wayne Cai, PhD, FSME
Technical Fellow
General Motors Global R&D Center
Warren, Michigan

Wayne Cai is a technical fellow at the General Motors Global R&D Center in Warren, Michigan, where he leads advanced research in manufacturing simulations. His work integrates mechanics, materials science, and statistical methods to innovate and optimize manufacturing processes and systems for improved quality, reliability, and cost efficiency.

A prolific inventor and recognized expert in his field, Cai holds more than 40 U.S. patents and has contributed numerous proprietary innovations to GM through trade secrets. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed research publications and a comprehensive book on lithium-ion battery manufacturing. He is also a sought-after speaker at industrial and academic forums worldwide.

Cai has held key leadership roles in several professional societies. He served as chair of the SAE Hybrid Electric Vehicle Committee and the ASME Manufacturing Engineering Division’s Manufacturing Process Technical Committee. He is currently a board member of the North American Manufacturing Research Institution of SME (NAMRI | SME) and co-chair of its Manufacturing Processes Committee. He also serves as an associate editor for prestigious journals published by ASME, SME, and SAE.

Cai earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and is a Fellow of ASME, SME, and SAE.

Azad M. Madni, PhD, FSME
University Professor and Northrop Grumman Foundation Fred O’Green Chair
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California

Azad M. Madni is a professor of Astronautics, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering and the Northrop Grumman Foundation Fred O’Green Chair in Engineering at the University of Southern California. He is also the founder and CEO of Intelligent Systems Technology Inc., an R&D company focused on augmented intelligence and model-based approaches for systems engineering and smart manufacturing.

A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Madni is internationally recognized for pioneering transdisciplinary systems engineering. He is the recipient of the NAE’s Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education, the highest honor in engineering education, and the IEEE Simon Ramo Medal, the top award in systems engineering.

Madni has authored Transdisciplinary Systems Engineering: Exploiting Convergence in a Hyperconnected World (Springer, 2018) and co-authored Tradeoff Decisions in Systems Design (2016) and Deep Learning Networks: Design, Development and Deployment (2023). He also edited The Handbook of Model-Based Systems Engineering (Springer, 2023).

He is an Honorary Fellow of AIAA and an Honorary Member of ASME, and a Life Fellow or Fellow of IEEE, ACM, INCOSE, IISE, AAAS, AIMBE and WAS. Madni earned his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in engineering from UCLA and is a graduate of the AEA/Stanford Executive Institute. SME Member Since 2023

Michael “Mick” Maher, FSME
Founder and Principal
Maher & Associates LLC
Baltimore, Maryland

Michael “Mick” Maher is the founder and principal of Maher & Associates LLC, established in September 2016. The firm specializes in the development and transition of advanced material and manufacturing technologies, including additive manufacturing, thermoforming of composites, rapid material development, and qualification and certification.

Maher currently serves on several corporate and technical advisory boards, including the National Academies’ National Materials and Manufacturing Board. He also serves as the chief technology officer for the nonprofit Applied Science and Technology Organization of America (ASTRO), where he manages a portfolio of projects focused on advanced manufacturing innovation.

Prior to founding Maher & Associates, Maher served for five years as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where he led a portfolio of programs in advanced materials and manufacturing. These included Tailorable Feedstock and Forming, Materials Development for Platforms, and Open Manufacturing. His work enabled the rapid qualification of new manufacturing technologies and developed revolutionary composite material systems with multifunctional and specialty properties.

Before joining DARPA, Maher held leadership roles at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, serving as chief of both the Composite and Hybrid Materials Branch and the Materials Applications Branch. While at ARL, he oversaw major R&D efforts in armor materials, coatings, composites and failure analysis.

Earlier in his career, Maher spent more than 20 years in the private sector in technical and managerial roles at companies including Martin Marietta, AAI and DuPont.

Maher is a Fellow of the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE) and has received several prestigious honors, including the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence, the 100 Greatest Army Inventions Award, and SME’s Jud Hall Composites Manufacturing Award. SME Member Since 2017

Iris V. Rivero, PhD, FSME
Paul and Heidi Brown Preeminent Chair
Department Chair, Industrial and Systems Engineering
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida

Iris V. Rivero is the Paul and Heidi Brown Preeminent Chair and department chair of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Florida. She received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in industrial and manufacturing engineering from Penn State University.

Rivero previously served as the Kate Gleason Professor and department head at the Rochester Institute of Technology and held faculty roles at Iowa State University, where she also served as director of graduate studies and associate chair.

She leads the Interdisciplinary Manufacturing Engineering and Design (iMED) laboratory, focusing on hybrid manufacturing techniques for diverse material systems including biopolymers, metal alloys and concrete. Her research spans additive and hybrid manufacturing, biomanufacturing and nondestructive process validation, with applications in aerospace, medical and infrastructure sectors.

Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and NASA. She has authored over 90 peer-reviewed articles and delivered more than 100 presentations. Rivero is a Fellow of IISE. SME Member Since 2002

Xun Xu, PhD, FSME
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
University of Auckland
Auckland, New Zealand

Xun Xu is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Auckland and director of the Laboratory for Industry 4.0 Smart Manufacturing Systems—New Zealand’s leading research facility dedicated to smart factories and digital manufacturing.

With over 40 years of experience, Xu’s research focuses on intelligent machining systems, cloud manufacturing and digital twins. He has published more than 460 peer-reviewed papers and serves as an editor or board member for several international journals.

Xu is a Fellow of ASME and Engineering New Zealand. He was named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in 2020 and recognized as one of SME’s “20 Most Influential Professors in Smart Manufacturing.”

He currently serves on the board of directors for the North American Manufacturing Research Institution of SME (NAMRI | SME) and chairs its Scientific Committee. SME Member Since 2019

Jiwang Yan, PhD, FSME
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Keio University
Yokohama, Japan

Jiwang Yan is a professor of mechanical engineering at Keio University in Japan. He earned his Ph.D. from Tohoku University in 2000 and held previous academic appointments at Kitami Institute of Technology and Tohoku University. Since joining Keio in 2012, Yan has become a global leader in ultraprecision machining, micro/nano manufacturing and laser processing.

He has published over 350 peer-reviewed papers and authored three books. Yan’s accolades include more than 40 awards, such as the Iwaki Award (2011), Takagi Award (2018) and the JSME Medal for Outstanding Paper (2021, 2024).

He has served as a Leverhulme visiting professor at the University of Manchester and a specially appointed professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology. Yan is the executive director of both the Japan Society of Precision Engineering and the Japan Society of Laser Technology and serves on editorial boards for several international journals.

In 2024, Yan was elected a foreign Fellow of the Engineering Academy of Japan and a Fellow of the International Academy for Production Engineering. SME Member Since 2018