Professor Haghighi receives 2024 Susan Smyth Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award
Assistant Professor Azadeh Haghighi is one of only 12 university academics worldwide to be named a 2024 Susan Smyth Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). The prestigious award underscores her significant contributions and leadership in the field of smart additive and robotic manufacturing.
Since 1980, the SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award has recognized manufacturing engineers, age 35 or younger, who have made exceptional contributions and accomplishments in the industry. Each year, the award is named in honor of a specific individual who has made lifelong contributions to manufacturing and SME. The 2024 award namesake is longtime SME member Susan Smyth.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to receive this esteemed recognition from SME, alongside a cohort of highly accomplished awardees. Being acknowledged by my peers and the research community as a leading early career researcher in my field is an immensely gratifying experience,” Haghighi said.
As the director of the Smart Manufacturing of the Future (Smarture) Laboratory, Haghighi leads pioneering research initiatives focused on advancing novel manufacturing capabilities and intelligent decision-support systems, particularly within additive manufacturing, hybrid manufacturing, and robotic manufacturing processes.
“We are committed to enabling novel future manufacturing technologies that are agile, smart, efficient, adaptable, and resilient,” Haghighi stated. “Our research revolves around additive manufacturing, robotics, and data analytics, which we view as the foundational pillars of future manufacturing.”
Haghighi has established novel physics-informed artificial intelligence methodologies for monitoring and quality assurance within additive and hybrid manufacturing and contributed to the advancement of emerging robotic and multi-robot collaborative additive manufacturing platforms. She serves as the associate editor for the Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing Journal and has received other notable recognitions, including the UIC Chancellor’s Translational Research Initiative Award, IMEC Future of Illinois Manufacturing Faculty Award, and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ Outstanding Paper Award. Additionally, she has been recognized by UIC and IMEC for her dedication to mentorship, teaching and manufacturing engineering education as well as supporting small-and-medium sized companies.