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Dr. Zhenhua Wu, is currently an Associate Professor in Manufacturing Engineering at Virginia State University. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University. His current research interests focus on cybermanufacturing, friction stir welding, sustainable manufacturing, and adaptive machining.

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Mr. Lorin Sodell is the Director for External and Industry Engagement at Virginia State University’s College of Engineering and Technology. He is also Director of Business Development and Advanced Manufacturing Education at the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM). At VSU, Lorin works on behalf of the College of Engineering and Technology to better engage with industrial partners, finding opportunities to place students both in internships and full-time roles. At CCAM, he is responsible for connecting this manufacturing technology research center with new industrial partners and championing their work to build career opportunities and education in advanced manufacturing. He joined both organizations in February 2019.

Previously, Lorin served for nine years as Manufacturing Executive and Site Director for, Rolls-Royce North America’s advanced manufacturing center in Prince George, Virginia. In this role, Mr. Sodell was responsible for the design and launch of two manufacturing facilities, which created >$350 million investment and >400 jobs, including registered apprentice programs for CNC machinists and maintenance mechanics. He joined Rolls-Royce in 2006 as Director of Manufacturing Engineering in Indianapolis, IN.

In total, Lorin has 36 years of manufacturing and engineering experience in the manufacture of engines for the aerospace and automotive industries. He has also held several executive leadership positions at United Technologies Corporation. Lorin began his career as a Manufacturing Engineer at General Motors where he established Standard Global Processes for Engineering and launched an automotive engine manufacturing plant in Germany.

Lorin earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY and an MBA from Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, MI.

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Dr. Elmustafa is the Mitsubishi Kasei Endowed Chair Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA and Director of the NanoMaterials and Properties Testing Laboratory (NMPTL) located inside the Applied Research Center-Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. During his tenure at ODU, his efforts have been directed to advance research in Nanotechnology and by teaching to inspire students (graduate and undergraduate) to become excited and contribute to that research. His principal interests are as follows: the study of Nanoscale Mechanical Behavior of solids; research plastic flow properties and the fundamental atomic scale mechanisms; evaporation and deposition of thin films for activation analysis; study of computation and experimental nanoscale mechanical properties; fracture strength of thin films among others. To his credit are more than 150 journal publications and referred proceedings.

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