S. Jack Hu, a University of Michigan (U-M) Mechanical Engineering Professor noted for leadership in the field, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.
Hu, professor of mechanical engineering and J. Reid and Polly Anderson Professor of Manufacturing at the University of Michigan, is currently the interim Vice President for Research. He also has a joint appointment as professor of industrial and operations engineering. Hu received both his Masters and Ph.D. degrees from Michigan.
A world-renowned scholar and leader in manufacturing engineering, Hu’s technical interests include manufacturing systems design and operations, assembly modeling and statistical quality methods. He has made a mark with his seminal contributions in developing methods for predicting and diagnosing root causes of product quality variation in multistage assembly systems, which have tremendously impacted the automotive industry.
Hu has received numerous awards for his accomplishments, including the SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the ASME William T. Ennor Manufacturing Technology Award, the SME/NAMRI S. M. Wu Research Implementation Award, the College of Engineering Research Excellence Award, and several best paper awards.
From 2002-06, Hu served as the director of the Program in Manufacturing and executive director of Michigan Interdisciplinary and Professional Engineering at U-M. He also served as the associate dean for research and graduate education from 2007–2009, and associate dean for academic affairs from 2009–2013, both in the College of Engineering. Recently, he has worked with the U-M President’s Office on President Obama’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, a working group advising the federal government on how to bolster American manufacturing.
Hu is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a fellow of the International Academy for Production Engineering. He served as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Manufacturing Systems from 2008-2013.