Blue Sky Competition Selection Committee 2023 Selection Committee Noel GreisResearch ProfessorUniversity of North Carolina at Charlotte As a member of the research faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science at UNC Charlotte, Noel Greis works with companies to transform their manufacturing operations through digital technology and artificial intelligence. She serves in a leadership role for the Consortium for Self-Aware Machining and Metrology where her research focuses on the development of new methods of theory-guided machine learning. Her work in self-aware manufacturing was recently recognized by the American Association of Artificial Intelligence and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Noel is currently on the leadership team of the NSF-funded initiative “Future Manufacturing: A Network for Cybermanufacturing in Machining” to develop next generation of machine tools. She previously served as director of the Center for Digital Enterprise and Innovation at UNC Chapel Hill for more than 15 years managing a research portfolio focused on transforming organizations through data-driven processes, products, and business models. Noel is the recipient of numerous awards for her work and serves on the Technology Committee of the Association for Manufacturing Technology. She received Ph.D., M.S.E. and M.A. degrees in engineering from Princeton University and a B.A. in mathematics from Brown University. Prior to her academic career, Noel was a member of the technical staff at Bell Laboratories and Bell Communications Research and holds a U.S. patent for real-time prognostics and diagnostics for complex physical systems. Jaydeep KarandikarSenior R&D Staff Member, Intelligent Machine Tool Research GroupOak Ridge National Laboratory Jaydeep Karandikar is a staff researcher in the Intelligent Machine Tool Research group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Jaydeep broad research interests include machining process modeling, monitoring, and optimization, and smart manufacturing. Dr. Karandikar has done pioneering work in machining dynamics, probabilistic optimization, and the application of machine learning and decision analysis for manufacturing process modeling. From 2014 to 2019, he was a lead research engineer at GE Research, Niskayuna, NY. Dr. Karandikar completed his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2013. After graduation, he did his post-doc at Georgia Tech. Dr. Karandikar is the 2016 recipient of the SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award. Dr. Karandikar has published more than 25 peer-reviewed journal papers, 2 book chapters, filed for three US patents (issued and pending), and has received several research awards. Dale LombardoSpecial Process Technologies LeaderGeneral Electric Aviation Dale Lombardo leads a diverse team of manufacturing technologists working across GE Aviation’s broad process and product portfolio. His team links materials to design to customers through a variety of Special Processes used in the manufacture of jet engines. Dale’s team manages the processes’ technical and quality requirements via a distributed team of hundreds of experts and practitioners across engineering and manufacturing. His team is a key part of how GE Aviation maintains high quality standards while also leaning forward into novel special processes and process control strategies. Dale graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with both BS & MSME with a specialization in Mechatronics & Controls. He has worked in a variety of Manufacturing Technology roles for GE including Global Research, GE Power, and GE Aviation. Dale’s personal technical background is in Machining, Process Monitoring, Surface Treatment (peening), and Surface Finishing. Dale has represented himself and GE on industry task groups (Nadcap), standards boards (ASME B46.1), and various panels and paper review processes including NAMRI and CIRP. He holds multiple patents in a broad array of manufacturing related disciplines. Dale lives in upstate New York where he is also a volunteer and mentor in the local school districts and supports STEM activities from elementary through graduate level programs locally. A. Adele RatcliffDirector, Industrial Base Analysis & Sustainment (IBAS) ProgramDepartment of Defense (DoD) Ms. Adele Ratcliff is currently the Director of the Industrial Base Analysis & Sustainment Program (IBAS) Program within the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy (IndPol). During her tenure in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, she has focused on building strong interagency partnerships to address broad transition of manufacturing issues, such as manufacturing readiness and the Advanced Manufacturing Enterprise. Her current position uses the broad authorities of the IBAS program element to enable a modern Industrial Base that integrates traditional and emerging sectors to be able to respond at will to National Security Requirements. Most recently, as the Director of the DoD Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program, Ms. Ratcliff led the effort in establishing the DoD’s national Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (MIIs), now known as Manufacturing USA Institutes, outlined in the President’s 2013 State of the Union address. Ms. Ratcliff’s long acquisition career has included serving as Program Manager for the congressionally mandated Defense Acquisition Challenge Program, Deputy Program Manager for the Foreign Comparative Test Program, and more than eleven years in Air Force Test and Evaluation at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. As Test Manager, she guided the Air Force’s Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser test program (better known as WCMD), from prototype through the production and deployment phase of the Platform, earning her the Air Force Materiel Command Test Engineer of the Year Award. More importantly, her efforts transitioned this Platform to support the Warfighter in the initial phases of Operation Enduring Freedom. She is a proud alumnus of the Mississippi State University Bulldogs, earning a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1988. In 2011 she graduated from the U.S. Army War College (in-residence) earning a MS in Strategic Art and graduated from the Department of Defense’s Defense Senior Leadership Development Program (DSLDP). She received the SECDEF Award for Excellence for her support of the Pilot Institute for Additive Manufacturing in March 2013. Brian RohmPrincipal Engineer CTHGeneral Electric Aviation Rich SeuglingManufacturing Engineering Section LeaderLawrence Livermore National Laboratory John VickersPrincipal TechnologistSpace Technology Mission DirectorateNational Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) John Vickers serves as the principal technologist in the area of advanced materials and manufacturing within the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. He also serves as the associate director of the Materials and Processes Laboratory at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and as the manager of NASA’s National Center for Advanced Manufacturing with operations in Huntsville, Alabama and New Orleans, Louisiana. He has over30 years of experience in materials and manufacturing --research and development, engineering, and production operations for propulsion, spacecraft, and scientific space systems. As principal technologist, he leads the nationwide NASA team to develop advanced manufacturing technology strategies to achieve the goals of NASA’s missions. He is the Agency representative to the National Science and Technology Council, Subcommittee on Advanced Manufacturing and the Subcommittee on Critical and Strategic Mineral Supply Chains. He is a founding member of the Manufacturing USA -National Network for Manufacturing Innovation program and the Interagency Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office. His many awards include NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal, NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal and the AIAA Holger Toftoy award. He is a fellow of SME. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
