2026 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 eight industry professionals have earned this highly prestigious honor through 20 years or more of dedication and service to manufacturing.

Stephan Biller, PhD, FSME
Harold T. Armine Distinguished Professor of Industrial Engineering
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN

Stephan Biller is the Harold T. Amrine Distinguished Professor in the School of Industrial Engineering and a Distinguished Professor of Management in the Mitch Daniels School of Business at Purdue University. He serves as Director of the Dauch Center for the Management of Manufacturing Enterprises and is the co-Director of Purdue’s national initiative in eXcellence in Manufacturing and Operations. His expertise spans Manufacturing & Operations Strategy, Smart Manufacturing, Digital Twin, Industry 4.0, and Operations and Supply Chain Management.

Before joining Purdue, Dr. Biller held senior leadership roles across industries. He was CEO of Advanced Manufacturing International; Vice President of Product Management for AI Applications & Watson IoT at IBM; Chief Manufacturing Scientist and Manufacturing Technology Director at General Electric; and Tech Fellow & Global Group Manager for Manufacturing Systems at General Motors. He was a founding Board member of the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition and has been recognized by SME as one of the 30 thought leaders of Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing. Onalytica named him the top academic influencer of Industry 4.0 in 2023.

He holds degrees from RWTH Aachen, Northwestern University, and the University of Michigan. He is an IEEE and an SME Fellow and a member of the National Academy of Inventors and the National Academy of Engineering. SME Member Since 2021

Shaochen Chen, PhD, FSME
Professor
University of California San Diego
La Jolla, CA

Dr. Shaochen Chen received PhD in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley in 1999. Currently he is Zable Endowed Chair Professor in the Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering at the University of California, San Diego where he served as the Department Chair (2019-2023). Before joining UCSD, Dr. Chen had been a Professor in Mechanical Engineering and a Henderson Centennial Endowed Faculty Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin from 2001 to 2010. Between 2008 and 2010, he served as the Program Director for Nanomanufacturing at the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Chen has published 200 peer-reviewed papers and 27 patents and provisional patents in the areas of 3D printing, bioprinting, biomaterials, and nanomanufacturing. He received the NSF CAREER award, ONR Young Investigator award, and NIH Edward Nagy New Investigator Award. He was honored with the Milton Shaw Manufacturing Research Medal from ASME and Frederick Taylor Research Medal from SME. Dr. Chen is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, a Fellow of AAAS, AIMBE, ASME, and SPIE. In 2022, Dr. Chen was awarded as a BRITE Fellow of NSF to advance biomanufacturing techniques. SME Member Since 2021

Soundar Kumara, PhD, FSME
Allen E. and Allen M. Pearce Professor
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA

Soundar Kumara is the Allen E. and Allen M. Pearce Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Penn State. He is the Director of the Center for the Applications of AI & ML to Industry (AIMI) under ICDS. Kumara a pioneer in integrating artificial intelligence into manufacturing and healthcare.

His research encompasses nonlinear real-time sensor analysis, machine learning for process diagnosis, and large-scale complex networks. A major highlight of his career is the co-development of the Label Propagation Algorithm (LPA), which is a part of all ML software platforms. This work was honored by Physical Review E as one of only 25 "Landmark Papers" selected from 50,000 publications to mark the journal’s 25th anniversary.

A prolific mentor, Professor Kumara has guided 70 PhD and 81 MS students. He is a Fellow of IISE, CIRP, AAAS, and ASME, and has received prestigious honors including the IISE Baker Award, ASME CIE Research Excellence Award, and the Pearson Digital Pioneer Award. His global reputation is further cemented as a Distinguished Alumnus of IIT Madras and an Outstanding Industrial Engineer from Purdue University. He served on the Army Science Board as a consultant, and serves on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Commission on AI. SME Member Since 2021

Dale Lombardo, FSME
Special Processes Leader
GE Aerospace
Clifton Park, NY

Dale Lombardo earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, specializing in mechatronics and controls. Over his career with GE, he has held roles in manufacturing technology across GE Global Research, GE Power, and GE Aerospace. He currently leads GE Aerospace’s Special Processes team within the Chief of Manufacturing Office, guiding a distributed team of 34 technologists and more than 500 certifying agents across jet engine manufacturing and support.

Lombardo’s technical background centers on machining, process modeling and monitoring, and advanced surface engineering, and he has contributed to multiple manufacturing-related patents. A bridge between manufacturing science, engineering, quality, and leadership, he has represented GE Aerospace on Nadcap’s management council, the ASME B46.1 standards committee, and various panels and paper review processes for NAMRI|SME and CIRP.

Lombardo is the current NAMRI|SME Board President and serves on the SME Board of Directors. He has been an SME member since 2012. Outside of work, he volunteers in support of the Adaptive Winter Sports Program at Double H Ranch, the Northeastern Woodworkers Association, and STEM and manufacturing education from K–graduate school. SME Member Since 2012

Melissa Orme, PhD, FSME
Vice President
The Boeing Company
El Segundo, CA

Melissa Orme is Vice President of Materials & Structures at The Boeing Company leading a talented team of 650 engineers and scientists developing innovative materials, processes, and structural design tools in the framework of Smart Manufacturing for current and future products across all Boeing business units. Melissa is a passionate leader, communicator and team-builder.

Her professional experience spans academia, where she rose to full professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCI; to high-tech startups such as Morf3D where she served as the Chief Technology Officer; to corporate executive leadership where she currently resides at The Boeing Company in the capacity of vice president.

In 2019, Melissa joined The Boeing Company as VP of Additive Manufacturing. Under her leadership, metal additive insertions onto Boeing vehicles rose from tens of unique metal AM parts per year to several thousand unique metal AM parts per year, while creating enterprise-wide infrastructure ensuring part quality. Melissa is instrumental in driving digital integration and advanced data analytics in the manufacturing value stream. To that end, her team was awarded the ‘Manufacturing in 2030’ award by the Manufacturing Leadership Council for their work on digital thread integration.

In 2024 Melissa received the rarefied honor of being elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Additionally, she was awarded the SME Eli Whitney Productivity Award, and was also inducted into the TCT Hall of Fame for 3D printing (one of 17 members globally as of 2024). In 2025 Melissa received the Mark A Stevens Distinguished Alumni Award from USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and in 2026 was elected to the SME College of Fellows. SME Member Since 2023

Radu Pavel, PhD, FSME
Director, Industrial Innovation
ARCTOS Technology Solutions, LLC
Cincinnati, OH

Dr. Radu Pavel is the Director of Industrial Innovation at ARCTOS Technology Solutions (ARCTOS), in which he is focused on driving applied research and technology and product solutions in advanced manufacturing and sustainment for aerospace and defense applications. Dr. Pavel has over 30 years of experience in mechanical and manufacturing engineering and has earned doctoral degrees in both disciplines. Prior to joining ARCTOS, Dr. Pavel held positions of Vice President of Engineering, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Engineer and machining/grinding research engineer at TechSolve Inc. In his functions, he supervised and worked on a large variety of advanced manufacturing projects, including those focused on accelerating the adoption of digital manufacturing technologies, and implementation of Industry 4.0/Smart Manufacturing research and educational programs. He is a director on the board of the NAMRI of SME (since 2025) and is former Executive Committee member (2015 - 2020) of the MED of ASME. Dr. Pavel has contributed publications and presentations to prominent international conferences and has organized multiple panels and symposiums. He is a Fellow of SME and of ASME, and recipient of the David Dornfeld Manufacturing Vision Award. SME Member Since 2000

Rebecca R. Taylor, FSME
Chief Business and Public Affairs Officer
The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences
Washington, DC

Rebecca R. Taylor serves as Chief Business and Public Affairs Officer at the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS), North America’s largest nonprofit research and development consortium dedicated to advancing manufacturing technology. In this role, she leads business development, government and public affairs, and program execution, helping drive innovation and strategic growth across the organization.

Passionate about pioneering new frontiers, Taylor thrives at the intersection of leadership and emerging technology. At NCMS, where cutting-edge manufacturing capabilities are developed every day, she guides high-performing teams in shaping the next generation of secure, advanced manufacturing solutions.

Taylor is President of the International Board of SME and serves on the Board of the International Women’s Forum of Washington, DC. She is also a member of the Scientific Committee of the World Manufacturing Foundation and serves as an Ex-Officio Member, Advanced Manufacturing Enterprise Subpanel, DOD Joint Defense Mantech Panel.

A recipient of the national STEP Award, she has been recognized for her leadership and impact in science, technology, engineering, and production. Taylor holds a bachelor’s degree from The George Washington University and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics. SME Member Since 2014

Chengying “Cheryl” Xu, PhD, FSME
Professor
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC

Dr. Cheryl Xu is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at North Carolina State University and currently serves as a Research Fellow in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office. At DOE AMMTO, she is leading the development of the National Strategy for AI-enabled Smart Manufacturing, supporting federal efforts to accelerate the development, deployment, and adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies across the U.S. energy and industrial base.

Dr. Xu is internationally recognized for her contributions to advanced materials, additive manufacturing, high-temperature wireless sensing, and artificial intelligence for manufacturing. Her research has supported aerospace, energy, defense, and industrial applications and has been funded by ONR, ARO, AFOSR, NSF, DOE, NASA, and industry partners.

Dr. Xu is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), reflecting her commitment to translating university research into practical technologies with industrial impact. She is also a Fellow of ASME, a Life Member of SME, and the founding Editor-in-Chief of npj Advanced Manufacturing, part of the Nature Portfolio. She has completed national leadership and policy training through the AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship and Capitol Hill engagement programs. She earned her Ph.D. from Purdue University. SME Member Since 2008