Professor Jun Ni, Shien-Ming (Sam) Wu Professor of Manufacturing Science

Jun Ni

Professor Jun Ni received his B.S. degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and earned his MS and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1984 and 1987, respectively. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, USA. He serves as the Director of the S. M. Wu Manufacturing Research Center, the Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored Engineering Research Center for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems, and the Co-Director of the NSF sponsored Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Intelligent Maintenance Systems. From 1993 through 1998, he also served as the Director of another NSF sponsored Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Dimensional Measurement and Control in Manufacturing.

Professor Ni's research and teaching interests are in the area of manufacturing science and engineering, with special focus on precision machining, manufacturing process modeling and control, statistical quality design and improvement, micro/meso systems and manufacturing processes, and intelligent monitoring and maintenance systems. Professor Ni has published over 200 archival technical journal and conference papers, and book chapters. He has supervised 46 doctoral and 31 master graduates as a chair or co-chair. He has been responsible as a principal investigator or co-investigator of research projects worth more than 35 million dollars. Many of his research results have been successfully implemented in industrial applications at Boeing, DaimlerChrysler, Delphi, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Kelsey-Hayes, Perceptron, Saginaw Machine Systems, Tecumseh Products, etc.

Among the many honors and awards that Professor Ni has received are the 1991 Outstanding Manufacturing Engineer Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, 1994 Presidential Faculty Fellows Award by President William J. Clinton, 1995 Excellence in Research Award from the University of Michigan, 1999 National Natural Science Foundation of China's Outstanding Oversea Scientist Award, 1999 Ministry of Education of China's Cheung-Keung Endowed Professorship award, 2000-01 Robert M. Caddel Memorial Award for Outstanding Faculty Achievement at the University of Michigan, 2001 Distinguished Visiting Chair Professorship at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2001 Best Paper Award from SME/NAMRI, 2001-02 Research Excellence Award from the College of Engineering, the University of Michigan, 2002 and 2004 Best Paper Awards from the International Conference on Frontiers of Design and Manufacturing. In 2002, he was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. In 2004, he was elected as a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. In addition, he has been given the honor to serve as Advisory or Guest Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tsinghua University, Xi'an Jiao Tong University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Jilin University of Technology, Dalian University of Technology, and Chinese Academy of Mechanical Engineering Sciences. He currently serves as an overseas member of the Expert Advisory Board of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. He has also served as a member of the External Advisory Board for Taiwan's Mechanical Industry Research Laboratory (MIRL) at Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).

Professor Shien-Ming (Sam) Wu

(Oct. 28, 1924 - Oct. 28, 1992)

Professor S. M. Wu was an internationally recognized leader and expert in manufacturing education and research. He was the Reid and Polly Anderson Professor of Manufacturing at the University of Michigan from 1986 until his death in 1992. In his over thirty year professional career, he made unparalleled accomplishments to the field of manufacturing science and engineering. He was a pioneer who first introduced advanced statistical methods to manufacturing research since 1960s. He developed a theory known as the Dynamic Data Systems and successfully applied it to the diverse engineering and non-engineering fields, including manufacturing processes and systems, robotics, paper making processes, agriculture, nuclear reactor, medical signal processing, earth quake prediction, etc. He published book chapters, textbooks and over 300 papers in scientific journals and conferences.

During his career as an educator, he mentored more than 125 Ph.D. students, close to 100 M.S. graduates, and around 150 visiting scholars and post-doctoral researchers. His legacy has been continued through this large number of his former students. Many of them are now in leadership positions in academia, industry and government worldwide. Beyond his very significant impact to the academic side of the manufacturing community, he also had a profound impact to the manufacturing industry. Many of his ideas, concepts, and methods have been successfully implemented in manufacturing practice.

Professor Wu was a recipient of numerous awards including the American Welding Society (AWS)'s Jennings Award (1968), American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME)'s Blackall Award (1968), Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) National Education Award (1974), the Fulbright Distinguished Professorship in Yugoslavia (1975), University of Wisconsin AMOCO Distinguished Teaching Award (1977), University of California Berkeley Springer Professorship Award (1979), ASME Russell Richards Award (1981), Elected Member of Academia Sinica (1982), Fellow ASME (1983), Fellow of SME (1984), R. & P. Anderson Professorship, University of Michigan (1987), the Fulbright Distinguished Professorship in USSR, (1988), the Chiang Manufacturing Achievement Award, Chiang Industrial Charity Foundation of Hong Kong (1991), and the Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award, the University of Michigan (1992). He donated the entire $100,000 USD from his Chiang Achievement Award to the University of Michigan to set up scholarship programs.

Dr. Wu graduated from the Jiao-Tong University, Shanghai in 1945. He earned his M.B.A. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in 1956 and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1962. He was a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin for more than 25 years and was recruited to the University of Michigan to re-establish its manufacturing programs in 1987.