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

From 2019 to 2021, Dr. Kurfess was on leave from Georgia Tech to serve as the Chief Manufacturing Officer and Founding Director of the Manufacturing Science Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he led strategic planning for advanced manufacturing. Earlier, from 2012 to 2013, he served in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy as Assistant Director for Advanced Manufacturing. In that role, he coordinated federal R&D efforts, identified policy opportunities, and developed strategies to close critical gaps in advanced manufacturing and commercialization.

Dr. Kurfess is a highly respected leader in the engineering community. He served as President of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 2023–2024 and as President of SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers) in 2018. He currently serves as an appointed member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National

Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Advisory Committee for Nuclear Security, as well as the U.S. Department of the Navy’s Science and Technology Board federal advisory committee.

His research centers on the design and development of advanced manufacturing systems, with a focus on secure digital manufacturing, additive and subtractive processes, and large-scale production enterprises. Dr. Kurfess is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of ASME, AAAS, and SME.

He earned his S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986, 1987, and 1989, respectively. He also holds an S.M. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, awarded in 1988.