Special Panels

All panels will take place on Wednesday, November 20, 11:10am-12:10pm

Future manufacturing holds the promise of increased efficiency, flexibility, sustainability, and innovation, driving economic growth and competitiveness in the global marketplace. Future manufacturing is set to be transformed by a convergence of technologies and trends, shaping the way products are produced, distributed, and consumed. Future manufacturing is intrinsically multidisciplinary, spanning across various fields such as engineering, materials science, and computer science. This panel will provide a forum for exchange of fundamental research, education, and workforce development activities in addition to a discussion of future trends in manufacturing with a focus on new manufacturing capabilities that do not exist today. In this panel, Dr. Andrew Wells, the director of the NSF's Future Manufacturing (FM) program along with some awardees of the program are invited to clarify the requirements of future manufacturing and discuss potential transformative research and educational activities that support the future of manufacturing.

Particularly, this panel aims:

• To distinguish Future Manufacturing from Advanced Manufacturing (in terms of how projects and proposals are different)
• To highlight Future Manufacturing successes (with a focus on impactful and off-the-wall projects)
• To discuss possible areas ripe for exploration in Future Manufacturing proposals, likely with reference to the Blue-Sky competition.

To highlight the potential of an enhanced R&D and trade relationship between Italy and the USA regarding advanced manufacturing, the Italian Trade Agency has partnered this year with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, to create on the occasion of IMECE 2024, a special panel entitled The Italian Way to Advanced Manufacturing. This will be an opportunity to have engagements in an exciting panel discussion by ASME members and industry experts from Italy on novel technologies coming out of Italy and the best practices for collaborations between Italian and US companies and research centers in the area of advanced manufacturing.

Representatives from CBET will introduce new funding opportunities and current NS opportunities from their respective divisions and have a live Q&A with the audience about the opportunities. These presentations will be of greatest benefit to current faculty members (all ranks) at US Institutions.

NSF Participants