SME Names Wen Chen One of Its 2022 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineers
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Assistant Professor Wen Chen of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE) Department has been named one of 22 Sandra L. Bouckley Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineers, as recognized by SME (formerly the Society of Manufacturing Engineers), a professional association committed to advancing manufacturing and developing a skilled workforce. See press release on PR Newswire.
The 22 recipients of the SME award, age 35 or younger, are recognized for exceptional contributions and accomplishments in manufacturing.
“These young professionals have demonstrated their ability to design, develop, and execute new, impactful technologies within academic institutions, research labs, and across a variety of industries,” said Robert Willig, SME executive director and CEO, about the award winners. “We're proud to recognize their outstanding achievements in academia and industry.”
Chen heads the MIE Multiscale Materials and Manufacturing Laboratory, where the research thrust revolves around the interface of materials science and advanced manufacturing.
As Chen explains, “We are particularly interested in understanding the fundamental structure-property-processing relationships in advanced materials and integrating control over materials on multiple length scales (atomic, microstructural, architectural).”
Chen does so through unique materials processing and 3D printing to arrive ultimately at optimized, multi-functional engineering components.
Chen’s research group has developed strong expertise in a wide variety of 3D printing technologies, including laser powder bed fusion, laser directed energy deposition, direct ink writing, cold spray, and plasma arc additive manufacturing.
Chen also studies high-throughput alloy design, architected materials, and functionally graded materials. Such materials involve engineered microstructures produced via multi-material additive manufacturing combined with thermomechanical or electrochemical processing for structural and energy applications.
In addition, Chen’s lab researches structure-property-processing relationships in state-of-the-art, compositionally complex metal alloys such as metallic glasses, high-entropy alloys, and ultra-high strength steels.
Chen earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Yale University, his M.Phil. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and his B.Eng. in Materials Science and Engineering at the Nanjing University of Science and Technology. (June 2022)