ORNL Researchers Receive Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award

(ORNL: Oak Ridge, TN) — The Society of Manufacturing Engineers has honored three Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers with the 2024 SME Susan Smyth Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award. Each year, SME presents the award to engineers 35 years of age or younger who have made exceptional contributions and accomplishments in the manufacturing industry.

ORNL research staff members Corson Cramer, Matthew Korey, and Alex Roschli were recognized by the professional manufacturing engineering association for their exceptional impacts on, and outstanding support of, technology advancements and manufacturing improvements. The trio work in ORNL’s Manufacturing Science division, which focuses on early-stage research and development to improve the energy and material efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers.

“Recognition as an Outstanding Young Engineer of the Year speaks to the innovation and expertise of these researchers and the quality of work being done by ORNL’s next generation of manufacturing science experts,” says Yarom Polsky, ORNL’s Manufacturing Science division director. “They represent our future leaders and are helping to ensure the future of America’s leadership in manufacturing.”

Corson Cramer, staff scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Department of Energy

Cramer is a staff scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, or MDF, at ORNL. He leads Energy and U.S. Department of Defense projects that are advancing the processing, characterization, testing, and scale-up of ceramics and ceramic-matrix composites. His specialty is the study and development of the next generation of ultrahigh temperature and harsh-environment ceramics; composite and hybrid materials for aerospace and aerospace engines; heat exchangers; and defense, nuclear, and advanced energy applications.

Cramer’s research interests are traditional and additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, of ceramics; coatings and integration; advanced ceramic matrix composites; and novel processing techniques. He has published research involving materials processing, ceramics, and thermo-electric materials that generate electricity when a temperature gradient is applied, as well as additive manufacturing and materials characterization.

Cramer has several patents and patent disclosures and is a member of SME and the American Ceramic Society. He received his doctorate in mechanical engineering with an emphasis on materials science from Colorado State University.

Matthew Korey, associate R&D scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Department of Energy

Korey is an associate R&D staff scientist at the MDF. He specializes in the development and industrialization of novel, sustainable manufacturing technologies for plastics and multimaterial systems. Korey’s focus is on the scale-up of mechanical, chemical, biological, and thermochemical methods of composite recycling, and advanced reprocessing and repurposing techniques to recycle industrial waste. His portfolio includes development and implementation of sustainably derived plastics made from renewable, waste-derived, and greenhouse gas-based materials.

Korey is co-chair of the Circular Economy Working Group at the Institute of Advanced Composites Manufacturing and Innovation, and founding chair of TMS PRIDE, a diversity, equity, and inclusion committee of the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society which fosters the inclusive exchange of ideas in materials science and engineering. He received his doctorate in materials engineering from Purdue University.

Alexander Roschli, R&D staff, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Department of Energy

Roschli is a researcher at the MDF. He develops large-format polymer additive manufacturing technologies, including 3D printing large-format metal and concrete structures. Roschli has been an integral part of projects at the fore of breakout technologies, such as the first 3D-printed car; a commercial airliner wing-blade mold that earned the Guinness World Record in 2017 for largest additively manufactured object; and other land and aquatic vehicles. He is now developing software to improve large-format toolpath generation that will more accurately define parameters for the print head and path of each layer of material for 3D-printed objects.

Roschli has received the Additive Manufacturing Users Group Distinguished INnovator Operators Award, known as the DINO Award, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Thomas A. Edison Patent Award. He has authored or co-authored more than 50 publications, and co-chairs the Additive Manufacturing Users Group track leader committee which creates conference tracks and develops education and training programs for session attendees. Roschli earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee.

The MDF, supported by Energy’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, is a nationwide consortium of collaborators working with ORNL to innovate, inspire, and catalyze the transformation of U.S. manufacturing.

University of Tennessee-Battelle manages ORNL for Energy’s Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit energy.gov/science.