Dr. Kurfess is Chief Manufacturing Officer and Executive Director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, where he also holds the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair and serves as a Regents’ Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He is Chief Technology Officer for the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences.

From 2019 to 2021, he was on leave to serve as Chief Manufacturing Officer and Founding Director of the Manufacturing Science Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He also served in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (2012–2013) as Assistant Director for Advanced Manufacturing, where he led national R&D coordination and policy strategy.

A recognized leader in the engineering community, Dr. Kurfess was President of ASME (2023–2024) and SME (2018) and currently advises the U.S. Department of Energy’s NNSA and the U.S. Navy’s Science and Technology Board.

His research focuses on secure digital manufacturing, advanced production systems, and additive/subtractive technologies at scale. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of ASME, AAAS, and SME.

Dr. Kurfess holds S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, along with an S.M. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.