N.C. A&T Names Desai Director of Center of Excellence in Product Design and Advanced Manufacturing

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Sept. 17, 2020) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University announced Salil Desai, Ph.D., a Distinguished Professor of industrial and systems engineering, has been selected as director of the Center of Excellence in Product Design and Advanced Manufacturing.

“Dr. Desai is an internationally recognized leader for his exemplary contributions to advanced manufacturing through translatory research,” said Tonya Smith-Jackson, Ph.D., senior vice provost for academic affairs. “At A&T, he has spearheaded several programmatic initiatives in advanced manufacturing which include establishment of state-of-the-art infrastructure and laboratories, curriculum development and outreach activities.”

Desai’s expertise is in the areas of smart cyber-physical systems, hybrid additive, nano and bio manufacturing, multiphysics modeling, regenerative tissue engineering, product design and realization. Last year, he received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in recognition of his outstanding efforts to “encourage the next generation of innovators developing a science and engineering workforce.”

Desai has extensively published in top-tier journals with more than 130 publications and seven book chapters, patents and invention disclosures. His research portfolio has generated more than $7.5 million in funding support from federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Defense, Department of Energy, industry and national laboratories. He also has acquired instrumentation worth $3 million to develop infrastructure support for research and education.

Among the honors Desai has garnered are the UNC Board of Governors Award, NSF CAREER Award, Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Technical Innovation Award and Outstanding Investigator Awards from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Department of Defense, and professional societies including the IISE, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Society of Education Engineers.

Desai earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Mumbai and M.S. and Ph.D. in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. He is an adjunct faculty member at the Wake Forest University Institute for Regenerative Medicine and serves as associate editor of the IISE Transactions in Design and Manufacturing.