Assistant Professor Carolyn Seepersad.
Dr. Carolyn Seepersad, has been selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineering's (NAE) 16th annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium. She is one of 86 of the nation's brightest young engineers (ages 30-45) chosen to attend this two and a half day event. The participants were nominated by fellow engineers or organizations and chosen from approximately 265 applicants. The symposium will be held Sept. 23-25 at the IBM Learning Center in Armonk, N.Y.
The U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium provides an opportunity for leaders in engineering, from academia, industry and government, to discuss pioneering technical work and leading edge research in various engineering fields and industry sectors. The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) organizes this annual event, comprising of both formal sessions and informal discussions, to encourage the establishment of cross-sector and cross-disciplinary contacts among the engineering pioneers of tomorrow.
The National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an independent, nonprofit institution that serves as an adviser to government and the public on issues in engineering and technology. Its members consist of the nation's premier engineers, who are elected by their peers for their distinguished achievements. Established in 1964, NAE operates under the congressional charter granted to the National Academy of Sciences in 1863.Sponsors
Sponsors for the 2010 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering are IBM, The Grainger Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Department of Defense (DDR&E), National Science Foundation, Microsoft Research and Cummins Inc.
"The U.S. Frontiers of Engineering program is an opportunity for a diverse group of this country's most promising young engineers to gather together and discuss multidisciplinary ways of leading us into the economy of tomorrow."
-NAE President Charles M. Vest
Carolyn Seepersad's Credentials
Professor Seepersad is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. She received a "B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University in 1996 and a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 1998. She received her Masters and Ph.D. degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology before joining The University of Texas at Austin in 2005. While at Georgia Tech, she held a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a Hertz Graduate Fellowship, winning a Sigma Xi Outstanding Dissertation Award. Among her numerous awards is a Rhodes Scholarship, class of 1996. In 2006, Seepersad won a Student Engineering Council Faculty Appreciation Award. In 2010, Dr. Carolyn Seepersad was awarded both the Dean's Award for Outstanding Teaching by an Assistant Professor and The University of Texas System Board of Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award.
Professor Seepersad has also won numerous research awards including the 2010 Young Investigator Award from the ASME Design Automation Committee, the 2009 International Outstanding Young Researcher in Freeform and Additive Manufacturing, Best Paper Awards from the ASME IDETC Design Theory and Methodology Conference (2009) and the ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition (2010).
Dr. Dr. Seepersad's Research & Teaching Duties
Honeycombed selective laser sintering models illustrating ¨different mesostructures.
Dr. Seepersad is the director of the Product, Process and Materials Design Lab (PPMD Lab). Their research "emphasizes integrated multiscale/multilevel design of products, processes and materials; solid freeform fabrication; and design methodologies for supporting innovation, customization and sustainability." Much of her work is focused on design for additive and freeform manufacturing, with an emphasis on products with customized mesostructure, including built-in honeycomb and lattice structures. She uses a process originally developed at UT called selective laser sintering to design custom products and prototypes. The technique uses a high-power laser to fuse particles into a three-dimensional object. Dr. Seepersad is also actively involved in developing fundamental principles and metrics for product flexibility and green design as well as techniques and testbeds for predictive process control, with an emphasis on welding applications.
Her research team's mission is to empower the next generation of technical leaders through research and teaching that promotes critical thinking, creativity, curiosity, and ethical decision-making. Sponsors include the National Science Foundation, Schlumberger and Los Alamos International Laboratory.
Dr. Seepersad currently advises 8 graduate students and is the PI (principal investigator) or co-PI on over $1M of research funding from a variety of agencies, including government agencies, national laboratories and private industry.
