Tuğrul Özel

Tuğrul Özel is a Professor I in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Rutgers University and the Director of Manufacturing and Automation Research Laboratory. Prof. Özel's research programs focus on advanced manufacturing, additive manufacturing, precision machining, laser materials processing, predictive modeling and optimization of manufacturing processes, and development of innovative micro/nano devices, processes, and integrated manufacturing systems. He has established an internationally recognized research program in the precision machining and additive manufacturing of advanced materials including alloy steels, titanium, and nickel-based superalloys. His other work has focused on laser processing of polymers and ceramic materials for microfluidics and microelectronics applications, micro-manufacturing of polymer microneedles for biomedical device applications, and most recently metal additive manufacturing method called laser powder bed fusion of nickel-based superalloys for aerospace applications. He is also interested in research on 3D bioprinting of natural fibers, bio composites, alginate, collagen and other sustainable materials for tissue and biomass constructs.

Prof. Özel is the co-author of four edited books. He is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems, and Associate Editor of ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering. He organized and edited 15 journal special issues. He published over 160 peer-reviewed articles in leading engineering journals and conference proceedings. His journal articles received high number of citations (over 10,000) and his current author h-index is 51 in Google Scholar database. He has been on the scientific committee of over 60 international conferences, chaired numerous conference sessions, delivered 70 conference presentations, keynote and planetary papers.

Prof. Özel's research has been well funded (over $1.2 million as sole or lead-PI) by the National Science Foundation, Department of Commerce-NIST, TK Tribology Research Foundation NASA/New Jersey Space Grant Consortium, and industry. Current research projects include surface quality and material property investigations in additively fabricated products using laser powder bed fusion, precision/micro-machining of advanced metal alloys using micro-textured tooling, predictive modeling of machining induced surface integrity, laser materials processing of polymers and semi-conductor materials and computational modeling and optimization of manufacturing processes using finite element method and machine learning. He and his graduate students are currently working towards Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled manufacturing and automation for developing digital twin of manufacturing processes and systems for smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0.

Prof. Özel is a senior member of SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers), ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), ASPE (American Society of Precision Engineering), and former Associate Member of CIRP-International Academy for Production Engineering.

For more information about Prof. Özel’s research group please visit http://coewww.rutgers.edu/marl

Website: Tuğrul Özel