Manufacturing is a bedrock of the U.S. economy. But in this global, high-tech age, manufacturing needs a paradigm shift toward more customized, flexible production using materials in new ways to accomplish more with lower energy intensity, unparalleled combinations of properties and allowing higher throughput.
Partnering with leaders of industry, federal agencies, professional associations, national labs and other universities, we’re leading manufacturing innovations in polymers, biomedicine, electronic systems, metals, and material processing and characterization. With facilities like our metal foundry and our leadership in America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, we’re helping re-envision what manufacturing means in this country.
Centers and institutes that conduct research in High-Performance Manufacturing
Faculty who conduct research in High-Performance Manufacturing

Rigoberto Advincula
Explores polymer material nanostructure to discover new phenomena and functionality

Rohan Akolkar
Develops new electrochemical processes for applications including nano-material fabrication, energy storage, electrometallurgy and sensors

Eric Baer
Develops processing-structure-property relationships in polymeric systems; creates micro- and nano-layered films; and produces biomimetic hierarchical structures of soft materials

Jennifer Carter
Develops experimental and analytical techniques to guide, inform and validate physics-based models of material behavior

Sunniva Collins
Engineers metallic surfaces for improved performance; selects materials and designs manufacturing processes for innovative outcomes

Malcolm Cooke
Develops integrated strategies to address biomedical challenges

John Lewandowski
Researches material reliability for biomedical and structural applications, advanced materials manufacturing and processing/microstructure/property relationships

Bo Li
Develops HPC-based computational methods for the dynamic behavior and failure processes in materials and structures under extreme conditions

Joao Maia
Develops multi-scale, complex polymer-based materials, using both experimental and computational-based tools

Wyatt Newman
Designs intelligent robots, machines and software for diverse applications

Chris Yingchun Yuan
Researches manufacturing science and sustainability improvement of lithium-ion batteries, solar cells and nanotechnologies