Thomas Kurfess Begins Term as ASME’s 142nd President, One New Member and Four Nominees to the Board of Governors Announced
NEW YORK –Thomas Kurfess, Ph.D., P.E., has begun his term as the 142nd president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Society announced during its annual meeting June 6. Kurfess is an ASME Fellow and has served as a member of the Board of Governors since 2019.
Kurfess is the chief manufacturing officer of the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute. He is the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. He also serves as the chief technology officer at the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. He served as the chief manufacturing officer and founding director for the manufacturing science division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 2019 to 2021. He served as the assistant director for advanced manufacturing at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States of America in 2012 and 2013, coordinating advanced manufacturing research and development.
Kurfess has been an active member of ASME for more than 30 years, holding a variety of volunteer positions, including member at large for the ASME Council on Standards and Certification and the ASME Committee on Government Relations, and chair of the ASME Manufacturing Public Policy Task Force. He is the recipient of several ASME awards including the Pi Tau Sigma Award, the Blackall Machine Tool and Gage Award, and the Gustus L. Larson Award.
Kurfess earned Bachelor’s, Master’s, and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research focuses on the design and development of advanced manufacturing systems targeting secure digital manufacturing, additive and subtractive processes, and large-scale production enterprises. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). He was president of SME in 2018.
In addition, the ASME Board of Governors voted and appointed Andrew S. Bicos, Ph.D., to an open position for the fiscal year 2024, following his three-year term that ends June 30, 2023. He is an independent consultant, recently retired from The Boeing Company after more than 30 years in executive management in the research and development organization. He has been an ASME member since college and actively involved with the Society for more than 25 years, starting on the Adaptive Structures and Material Systems Technical Committee. He also served on boards of award and conference organizing committees. He served as Aerospace Division chair from 2003 to 2004. He joined the Industry Advisory Board (IAB) in 2002 as the Boeing representative and served as chair of the IAB from 2014 until 2016. In 2004, he became co-chair of the Aerospace/NASA R&T Task Force of the Inter-Sector Committee on Federal R&D, serving in that role until 2017. In 2016, Bicos was selected as an ASME Federal Fellow serving in the office of Congressman Tom Reed (NY-23) where his responsibilities included manufacturing and energy policy. In 2018, he chaired the Presidential Task Force on Membership. In addition, he recently served on the Government Relations Committee and is a member of the Manufacturing Public Policy Task Force.
Bicos is a member of the California State University at Los Angeles President’s Council. He has served on the Board of Directors of the National Center for Manufacturing Science and on the National Research Council Committee on Space-Based Additive Manufacturing. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and Master of Business Administration degree from University of California, Los Angeles, and Master of Science and doctoral degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University.
The Nominating Committee, under the leadership of Carlos Beatty, Jr., selected the following four nominees for member-at-large positions on the Board of Governors. The nominees’ names will appear on the ballot in September 2023 and, if elected by the ASME membership, they will serve on the Board for a three-year term beginning June 2024. The Governor-Nominees are:
Daniel N. Donahoe, MBA, Ph.D., P.E., a life member of ASME, is currently a consultant with 1000 kilometers PLLC and beginning work for Systems Consulting Group Odyssey as a systems engineer in Colorado Springs, Colo. Donahue’s career includes positions with Compaq Computer, Exponent Failure Analysis Associates, Ford Aerospace, Iomega, Lockheed, Motorola, Teledyne, the United States Air Force, University of Illinois, and the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE) at the University of Maryland.
Donahue has participated in many ASME electronics packaging conferences and publication activities and on the ASME/UT Executive Committee (2012-2015), as Vice Chair (2012-2013) and served as ASME representative to the Utah Engineering Council (2014-2015). He is also active in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) leadership. He received the 2022 Utah Engineers Council Engineer of the Year award and contributed to the data center chapter of the 2023 ASHRAE Applications Handbook. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in general engineering and a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an MBA from Santa Clara University, and a Ph.D. from University of Maryland. He is an ASQ Certified Reliability Engineer and a licensed professional engineer in Arizona, California, and Utah.
Nicole Kaufman Dyess, an ASME member, currently works as an independent consultant who transforms her clients’ technical expertise into engaging marketing strategies, sales materials, and technical documentation. Her 20+-year career includes strategic program management and product development leadership positions at for-profit, non-profit, and government organizations.
Dyess started her career as a consulting engineer at Advanced Energy, providing demand-side management and renewable energy solutions for electric utilities. She then used her expertise to help North Carolina implement its Renewable Portfolio Standard as a consumer advocate on the State’s Utilities Commission Public Staff. She subsequently served as ARRA Program Manager at the NC Energy Office and Acting Associate Director of the NC Office of Science & Technology.
An active ASME volunteer since her undergraduate studies, Dyess currently serves as ASME’s senior vice president for student and early career programs and has led initiatives to increase ASME’s student membership by more than 20% and increased retention of young professionals. She previously served ASME in diverse roles including the Committee on Honors, Nominating Committee, Member Development & Engagement Sector Council, and Strategic Issues Committee. She earned a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering from NC State University and a Master’s in public administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
William P. King, Ph.D. is a professor and the Ralph A. Andersen Endowed Chair in the department of mechanical science and engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He holds courtesy appointments in the departments of electrical and computer engineering and materials science and engineering. His work focuses on advanced manufacturing, microsystems and nanotechnology, heat transfer, and advanced materials. He is the co-founder of three companies. His most recent company, Fast Radius, was recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Lighthouse Factory, one of the world’s best digital factories. King was the founding chief technology officer at MxD, one of the first Manufacturing USA Institutes.
King is active in ASME’s Heat Transfer Division, Manufacturing Engineering Division, and Microelectromechanical Engineering Division. He has published 270 journal articles and holds 20 patents. His awards include the PECASE award from the White House and the Gustus L.Larson Memorial Award from ASME. He is an ASME Fellow, as well as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, IEEE, SME International (Society of Manufacturing Engineers), and the National Academy of Inventors. He received a B.S. degree from University of Dayton and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University, all in mechanical engineering.
Janis P. Terpenny, Ph.D., an ASME Fellow, is the Manufacturing Systems Integration (MSI) program director at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI). She is also a professor at George Mason University in systems engineering and operations research and in mechanical engineering. Her research focuses on smart integrated manufacturing systems, engineering design, and design education. She has previously served as dean of engineering at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, department head of industrial and manufacturing engineering at Penn State, department chair of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering at Iowa State, professor of mechanical engineering and engineering education at Virginia Tech, and professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She previously worked for NSF in the Division of Undergraduate Education and in industry for General Electric (GE), including a 2-year rotational management program.
Terpenny has been actively involved with ASME for more than 20 years. She currently chairs the Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Group (IMTG) and serves on the Fellows Review Committee. She founded and for 10 years chaired/co-chaired the Broadening Participation Committee (BPart) for the Design Engineering Division. She served as associate editor for the Journal of Mechanical Design (JMD) for six years and has organized sessions and presented papers at IDETC and MSEC for many years. She is actively engaged in other professional organizations, boards, journals, and is a champion of DEI initiatives. She earned a B.S. in applied mathematics from Virginia Commonwealth University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in industrial and systems engineering from Virginia Tech.
For more information on the ASME Board of Governors, visit https://www.asme.org/about-asme/governance.
About ASME
ASME helps the global engineering community develop solutions to real world challenges. Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing, and skill development across all engineering disciplines, while promoting the vital role of the engineer in society. ASME codes and standards, publications, conferences, continuing education, and professional development programs provide a foundation for advancing technical knowledge and a safer world. In 2020, ASME formed the International Society of Interdisciplinary Engineers (ISIE) LLC, a new for-profit subsidiary to house business ventures that will bring new and innovative products, services, and technologies to the engineering community, and later established the holding company, Global Knowledge Solutions LLC. For more information, visit www.asme.org
