Tuesday, June 16, 2026
Penn State University
Presidents Hall
16:45 ET-18:00 ET
The WIAM Forum 2026 will continue to showcase successful career paths, discuss next generation technologies, and address the unique challenges in the field of manufacturing engineering. This forum is organized by the ASME Manufacturing Engineering Division (MED).
WIAM 2026 will feature an inspirational panel of women in advanced manufacturing materials and systems from academia, industry, and national labs. This year, the panel session will be organized in collaboration with the Early Career Forum.
We sincerely welcome all genders and diverse professionals to join us to together foster career growth and identify next steps for building a supportive community in manufacturing engineering!
A registration fee of $5 is required. All genders are welcome!
Program Details
Session I: WIAM Welcome
Date and Time: Tuesday, June 16, 2026. 16:45 - 17:20 ET
Agenda: The welcome session will include the WIAM 2026 Forum introduction and agenda, as well as a brief presentation of the WIAM 2026 sponsors: ASME by Dr. Janis Terpenny and SME by Dr. Deb Volzer . Additionally, the WIAM Rising Star Winner will be announced and highlighted during the session.
Moderators: Dr. Ala Qattawi and Dr. Vinita Jansari
Session II: Session II: Solution Room and Networking
Date and Time: Tuesday, June 16, 2026. 17:20 - 18:00 ET
Overview Topics: Career navigation and pivots, Policy advocacy in the workplace, Being a woman in manufacturing, Industry vs academia: making the move.
Moderators: Dr. Vinita Jansari, Dr. Yang Du, Dr. Ala Qattawi, and Dr. Erina Joyee
Session III: Technical Panel in collaboration with Early Career Forum
Date and Time: Tuesday, June 16, 2026. 18:00 - 20:00 ET
Agenda: The WIAM 2026 Forum will host a panel session and networking event in collaboration with the Early Career Forum. Attendees will get to interact with the panelists from both the forums in a single event.
ASME MED WIAM 2025 Organizing Committee:
Chair: Maya Reslan, OMSAR
Vice Chair: Vinita Jansari, Clemson University
Treasurer: Yang Du, Iowa State University
Secretary: Erina Joyee, UNC Charlotte
Liaison Coordinator: Azadeh Haghighi, University of Illinois Chicago
ASME Coordinator: Barbara Zlatnik, ASME
ASME MED WIAM 2026 Panel of Leaders in Manufacturing
Janis P. Terpenny, Ph.D., ASME Fellow and Program Director at the National Science Foundation (NSF)
Janis P. Terpenny, Ph.D. (Fellow, ASME) is a recognized innovator and enabling/supportive leader, driven to make a difference in the world. Inspired by prior experience in industry, her volunteer work in the community, and her passion to make a difference, many of her contributions have involved collaborations among industry, university, and community partners. She currently serves as Program Director at the National Science Foundation (NSF), primarily focused on smart/intelligent manufacturing and systems. She is a rotator (IPA), on loan from George Mason University where she is professor of Mechanical Engineering and Systems Engineering & Operations Research. Years ago, Dr. Terpenny served as program director for the Division of Undergraduate Education at the NSF. She has also served as the Dean of Engineering at the University of Tennessee and Department Head of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Penn State University and at Iowa State University. She served as the first Technical Lead for the Advanced Manufacturing Enterprise (AME) area of the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII) during the development of the institute's roadmap and first strategic investment plan. She was co-founder and director of the Center for e-Design, an NSF IUCRC center comprised of 7 universities and over 30 industry members. She has also been a professor at Virginia Tech in the departments of Engineering Education, Mechanical Engineering and Industrial and Systems Engineering; and in the department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has 9 years of industry work experience with GE, including a 2-year corporate management program. She is a Fellow and member of ASEE, ASME, and IISE and member of AAAS, INFORMS, SME, and Tau Beta Pi. She is an associate editor for multiple journals. Currently, she serves as Governor on the ASME Board of Governors. Previously, she served as a Senior VP on the IISE Board of Trustees. She has received numerous awards for excellence in teaching, in research, and for service.
Dr. Terpenny has been actively involved with ASME for more than 20 years. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of ASME’s Board of Governors. Previously, she chaired ASME’s Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Group (IMTG) and on the Fellows Review Committee. She founded, and for 10 years chaired/co-chaired, the Broadening Participation Committee (BPart) for the ASME Design Engineering Division. She served as the first associate editor of design education for the Journal of Mechanical Design (JMD) and has organized sessions and presented papers at the International Design Engineering Technical Conference (IDETC) and the Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (MSEC) for many years.
Deb Volzer, Ph.D., SME - Vice President, Workforce Development Dr. Volzer joined SME in 2022 and currently serves as vice president of workforce development, where she leads the organization's national strategy to close the manufacturing skills gap and expand economic opportunity through education, government collaboration, and public-private partnerships. Volzer brings more than 25 years of experience in higher education and 15 years of expertise working with federal, state and local agencies to align talent systems with emerging economic needs to SME. She is responsible for designing and launching the Manufacturing Imperative – Workforce Pipeline Challenge, a national program with local implementation in 19 states, 31 institutions, which has successfully united educational institutions, industry groups, and government partners to close the manufacturing skills gap and expand economic opportunity. Volzer is focused on strengthening relationships that advance SME and government's shared priorities nationwide, and strategizing and delivering workforce programs that specifically support the U.S. Department of Defense. She shapes federal and state strategies, pursues funding opportunities, and fosters public-private partnerships, while aligning and amplifying SME’s existing workforce programs for maximum impact.
Marie-Christine Caron, GE Aerospace - Integrated Manufacturing Automation Leader
Trained as a mechanical engineer and a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Marie-Christine brings 25 years of industrial experience, including 13 years at IBM Canada and 12 years at GE Aerospace. Over the course of her aerospace career, she has led teams across technology, operations, and environment, health, and safety (EHS), with a consistent focus on performance and disciplined execution. An expert in manufacturing process automation, she currently serves as Automation Leader for GE Aerospace Integrated Manufacturing, which spans roughly 30 sites worldwide. She established the organization's automation strategy and is driving the foundational elements needed to increase automation across operations—leveraging R&D, in-house industrial solution development, and strategic partnerships.
Huijuan Dai, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office - Supervisory Program Manager for the Next Generation Materials & Processes Program
Dr. Huijuan Dai serves as the Supervisory Program Manager for the Next Generation Materials & Processes Program in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office. Her portfolio includes research, development, and pilot demonstration for technologies that cover smart manufacturing, additive manufacturing, high performance computing, cyber security for manufacturing, composites, highly-conductive materials, and materials for harsh service conditions. Dr. Dai’s responsibilities include oversight of three Manufacturing USA institutes IACMI, CESMII, CyManII, and two user facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Before joining DOE, Dr. Dai spent over 15 years driving industry research and technology development across the aerospace, energy and space applications. She played a key role in shaping the vision and technology strategies for advancing and implementing emerging technologies and high-value advanced manufacturing opportunities across energy sectors. Huijuan also brings more than a decade of experience in program and team management, successfully leading multidisciplinary teams from idea generation, rapid prototyping to new technology/product introduction. She has a Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Leicester in the U.K., and an MBA with a specialization in Business Analytics from the University of South Carolina.
Brigid Mullany, University of North Carolina Charlotte – Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science Department, and the Associate Dean for Research
Brigid Mullany is both a professor in Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science, and the Associate Dean for Research for the William States Lee College of Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She received her BE and PhD in mechanical engineering from the University College Dublin in Ireland. After graduation, she held two-year EU Marie Curie postdoctoral research position at Carl Zeiss in Germany. In 2004 she joined the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she is currently working in the areas of additive manufacturing (metal and ceramic), surface finishing, robust multi-class surface discrimination machine learning frameworks. Mullany received in the SME Kuo K. Wang Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award in 2007, and the NSF CAREER Award in 2008. She is the Past President for SME's North American Manufacturing Research Institute (NAMRI), a fellow of the International Academy of Production Engineering (CIRP), past Chair of CIRP's Scientific Technical Committee on Surfaces (STC-S), and a current member of CIRP Council. From January 2017 to November 2019 she was a program director in the Advanced Manufacturing program at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Alexandria, VA.
Hui-Ping Wang, General Motors Research and Development Center – Senior Technical Fellow
Dr. Hui-Ping Wang is a Senior Technical Fellow at the General Motors Research & Development Center, where she has spent 25+ years driving breakthrough innovation in automotive manufacturing. Her work spans robotics and AI-enabled automation, laser and resistance welding, battery pack design, and advanced computational mechanics — bridging fundamental research with high-impact production deployment.
She has led multiple industry-first technologies adopted in GM vehicles, including aluminum-to-steel resistance spot welding (Cadillac CT6), Class A laser welding for aluminum panels, remote laser spot welding (Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse), and laser welding solutions for the GMC Hummer EV. Her current portfolio includes GraspFactory and OmniFactory for AI-driven robotic pick-and-place automation, and Adhesive Bead Pro, a physics-informed ML tool for adhesive dispense planning.
Dr. Wang holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Iowa. She is the inventor on 83 inventions, author of 73 journal publications (4,000+ citations, h-index 30), and recipient of multiple GM Boss Kettering Awards, two R&D 100 Awards, the AWS A.F. Davis Silver Medal, and the IIW Heinz Sossenheimer Software Innovation Award. She is an SME Fellow, US Delegate to the International Institute of Welding, and a board member of the GM Technical Fellow Council.
ASME MED WIAM 2026 Organizing Committee
Maya Reslan, Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform - Lead Digital Transformation Consultant, WIAM 2026 Chair
Maya Reslan is a Lead Digital Transformation Consultant at the Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform (OMSAR) in Lebanon. Currently based between Washington, D.C. and Beirut, she temporarily relocated to Lebanon to support public sector digital transformation initiatives focused on service reengineering, citizen-centric design, behavioral insights, and government modernization. Her work includes leading high-impact digitization efforts across ministries, establishing the Behavioral Innovation and Digital Transformation Lab (BIND-Leb), and supporting national platforms such as Dawlati, Lebanon’s e-services platform. Previously, Maya worked as a Manufacturing Engineering Researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where she focused on Lean manufacturing, digital twins, circular economy, Industry 4.0, and organizational transformation. She also brings prior industry experience across manufacturing environments including automotive, aerospace, furniture, pumps, and metals, with expertise in Lean Six Sigma, process improvement, operations, supply chain, and change management. Maya holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lebanese American University and a Master’s degree in Management and Engineering in Production Systems from RWTH Aachen University. She is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt and is passionate about combining engineering, behavioral science, and human-centered design to drive transformation. She is an active leader within the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), currently serving as Chair of Women in Advanced Manufacturing (WIAM), and has contributed to both the Early Career Engineers and History & Heritage Committees. Beyond her professional work, she remains actively engaged in leadership, mentoring, and humanitarian volunteer initiatives.
Vinita Jansari, Clemson University - Research Assistant Professor, WIAM2026 Vice Chair
Vinita Jansari is a Research Assistant Professor in the School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering at Clemson University. She holds a PhD in Computer Science (AI/ML) from Auckland University of Technology, NZ, a Master's in Management & IT from the University of St Andrews, UK, and a Bachelors in Computer Applications from MSU, India. Vinita is an interdisciplinary researcher, working at the intersection of AI, data science, engineering, and healthcare to develop practical solutions for complex problems in engineering and healthcare. Her work emphasizes creating reliable and adaptable AI systems to improve quality and efficiency in production environments. Before academia, she worked as a software developer in London for six years. Vinita has collaborated with manufacturing companies on projects applying machine learning to quality inspection and predictive maintenance. She aims to leverage her interdisciplinary research and industry partnerships to drive innovation and solve real-world challenges in industrial settings. Vinita actively contributes to academic leadership at Clemson as the Advisory Committee member for Postdoctoral and Early Professional Scholars Association and has organized major research events, including a summit involving four NSF NRT programs, National Postdoctoral Association Annual Conference, and the co-located international manufacturing conferences NAMRC 53 and MSEC 2025.
Yang Du, Iowa State University – Assistant Professor, WIAM2026 Treasurer
Yang Du is an Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Iowa State University whose research focuses on metal additive manufacturing, laser processing, and machine learning. She has authored influential papers published in peer-reviewed leading journals, such as Progress in Materials Science, Applied Materials Today, International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, npj Computational Materials, Acta Materialia, Optics & Laser Technology, and Journal of Manufacturing Processes. Dr. Du serves as guest editor for special issues on metal additive manufacturing and machine learning in Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing and Metals. Her professional service includes technical committee roles with AWS, ASME, SPIE Photonics West, and the Women in Advanced Manufacturing Forum, as well as advising the Alpha Sigma Mu chapter at Iowa State. She is a recipient of the 2025 Iowa NASA EPSCoR Research Building Seed Grant and Partnership Development Travel Grant.
Erina Joyee, University of North Carolina at Charlotte – Assistant Professor, WIAM2026 Secretary
Dr. Erina B. Joyee is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Lab for Advanced Manufacturing and Bio-inspired Design Approach (LAMBDA) at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science, University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her research focuses on additive manufacturing of polymer nanocomposites, bio-inspired materials, and field-directed fabrication methods for multifunctional structures. Her work integrates materials science, manufacturing, and emerging AI-driven approaches to enable programmable microstructures and functional performance in next-generation engineered systems. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense (STTR program), the UNC Charlotte Center for Additive Manufacture of Advanced Ceramics, and internal university research initiatives. Dr. Joyee is a recipient of the 2024 Future Leader-Young Investigator Research Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and multiple research and travel awards. Dr. Joyee has authored numerous journal publications in leading venues such as Additive Manufacturing, Composites Part B, Small, and the Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering. She actively contributes to the research community as a journal reviewer for several high-impact journals, a guest editor for special issues in additive manufacturing and advanced materials, and a symposium organizer for major conferences including ASME MSEC, MS&T, and ACerS.
Azadeh Haghighi, University of Illinois Chicago – Assistant Professor, WIAM2026 Liaison Coordinator
Dr. Azadeh Haghighi is an Assistant Professor and the director of the Smarture Lab at the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, University of Illinois Chicago. She serves as the Associate Editor for the Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing Journal, and the Scientific Committee for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Her research has been supported, among others, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, University of Illinois System, UIC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, and the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center. Her research interests include Computational Foundations for Smart and Agile Manufacturing, Physics-informed Artificial Intelligence, Quality Assurance for Additive and Hybrid Manufacturing, Collaborative and Multi-robot Additive Manufacturing, and Digital Twin Modeling of Manufacturing Processes/Systems. She is a recipient of the prestigious 2024 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ Outstanding Paper Award, UIC Chancellor’s Translational Research Initiative Award, IMEC Future of Illinois Manufacturing Faculty Award, and the Provosts Award for Graduate Research.
Barbara Zlatnik, CAE, ASME – Senior Manager, Technical & Engineering Communities (TEC) Operations, WIAM2026 ASME Coordinator
Barbara Zlatnik is a Senior Manager at ASME supporting a number of the Society's technical divisions and technology groups. Barbara supports the division and technology group members and their leadership. Barbara has worked for several professional membership associations in various membership, volunteer management and customer service positions. She earned her Certified Association Executive credential in 2010.