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Soundar Kumara, the Allen E. and Allen M. Pearce Professor of Industrial Engineering at Penn State, has been inducted into the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) College of Fellows.
Kumara is one of eight manufacturing experts selected for the 2026 class of fellows. Founded in 1986, the SME College of Fellows honors members who have made exceptional contributions to the manufacturing profession through advancements in technology, education, and society. This prestigious recognition is reserved for professionals with at least two decades of experience who have demonstrated sustained leadership and made a lasting impact on the field of manufacturing engineering.
“I am truly honored to be recognized as a fellow of SME, an achievement I value greatly,” Kumara said. “It is especially rewarding to see the work my group began in the early 1980s — in sensing, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), applications to manufacturing, and networked edge-computing in manufacturing — help shape today’s smart manufacturing research, education and practice. As an academic, engineer and researcher, having the opportunity to make such an impact is a privilege beyond measure.”
In addition to his professorship, Kumara serves as the director of the Center for the Applications of Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning to Industry (AIMI), a research center within Penn State’s Institute for Computational and Data Sciences.
