Advanced Manufacturing Expert Named S&T Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation

Dr. Ming C. Leu, a leader in advanced manufacturing research for more than four decades, has been appointed associate vice chancellor for research and innovation at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

“Missouri S&T is home to some of the world’s leading researchers, and I am honored to be appointed to a role allowing me to support our faculty and help advance the university’s research mission and innovation culture,” Leu says. “As associate vice chancellor, I look forward to strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration, helping faculty compete for major research initiatives and expanding our industry partnerships.”

Leu, who is also the Keith and Pat Bailey Missouri Professor and a Curators’ Distinguished Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, joined the Missouri S&T faculty in 1999.

He was the founding director of S&T’s Center for Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies and led the center from 2004 to 2016. He also served as director of the Intelligent Systems Center from 2003 to 2020.

Leu has published over 500 academic journal articles, conference proceedings, book chapters and other publications for his advanced manufacturing research and has been awarded five U.S. patents for his inventions.

Some of his research areas include additive manufacturing, 3D bioprinting, smart manufacturing, intelligent robotics and cyber-physical systems.

He is a Fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the International Academy of Production Engineering and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

His past awards include the International Freeform and Additive Manufacturing Excellence Award; the ASME Milton C. Shaw Manufacturing Research Medal; the ASME Blackall Machine Tool and Gage Award; the International Symposium on Flexible Automation’s Hideo Hanafusa Outstanding Investigator Award; the University of Missouri System President’s Award for Leadership, the National Science Foundation’s Presidential Young Investigator Award, and the SAE International Ralph R. Teetor Education Award.

Before joining S&T, Leu was a program director for the National Science Foundation and held faculty positions at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Cornell University. He has been a visiting professor at several universities in Singapore, China, Taiwan and South Africa and has consulted for companies around the globe.

Leu earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkley, a master’s degree from The Pennsylvania State University, and a bachelor’s degree from National Taiwan University — all in mechanical engineering.

For more information, visit research.mst.edu and www.mst.edu.