Two Arkansans among ‘Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineers’ honorees

Dearborn, Mich.-based SME, a company that promotes advanced manufacturing technology and workforce development, has selected 17 “Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineers” to be honored for exceptional contributions and accomplishments in the manufacturing industry.

Two of the honorees are from Arkansas — Ashish Kumar Singh, a metallurgical engineer at Welspun Pipes Inc. in Little Rock and Tao Wang, lead metallurgical engineer and research lab supervisor of Nucor Steel in Manila.

All of the honorees are 35 or younger and represent both industry and academia. SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineers are selected based on work in emerging manufacturing applications, technical publications, patents, and academic or industry leadership.

“Manufacturing engineering and the manufacturing industry offer young people incredible opportunity for exploration and achievement,” SME CEO Jeff Krause said in a news release. “These creative and energetic young professionals are inspiring proof of both the strength and the promise of manufacturing.”

Each year, the SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer award is named to honor a specific individual’s lifelong contributions to manufacturing and SME. The 2017 award is named after Yoram Koren, James J. Duderstadt Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Manufacturing and Paul G. Goebel Professor Emeritus of Engineering at the University of Michigan.

“These young professionals represent the future of manufacturing, and I’m honored that my name will be associated with their ability, energy and vision,” Koren said. “SME chose these 17 from a rich variety of disciplines and backgrounds from around the world — and they chose well.”