Christopher Williams, associate professor of engineering education and mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been named the Electro-Mechanical Corporation Senior Faculty Fellow in Advanced Manufacturing Systems by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

The EMC Senior Faculty Fellowship in Advanced Manufacturing Systems was established by a gift from the Electro-Mechanical Corporation to recognize exceptional research, scholarship and outreach in the field of advanced manufacturing.

A member of the Virginia Tech faculty since 2007, Williams currently serves as the associate director of the Macromolecules and Interfaces Institute. He has published two book chapters, 29 journal papers and 71 peer-reviewed conference papers in advanced manufacturing.

William’s has received $5.67 million in external research grants with a personal share of $2.6 million.

William’s scholarly contributions have been recognized with several university and professional awards. In 2014, Williams was recognized as the W. S. “Pete” White Chair for Innovation in Engineering Education and was named a faculty fellow by the College of Engineering in 2015.

Along with his graduate students, Williams received the Outstanding Paper Award, Rapid Prototyping Journal and the Best Paper Award, ASME IDETC 19th Design for Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference in 2014. In 2013 he was awarded the extremely competitive and prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award.

He also received the John A. Curtis Lecture Award, ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition – Computers in Education Division (Best Paper Award) in 2013, and the International Outstanding Young Researcher in Freeform and Additive Fabrication Award (FAME Jr. Award), presented by the International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium.

Williams has graduated five doctoral students and six master’s degree students and currently advises three Ph.D. and four master’s degree students.

Williams also is director of the Virginia Tech Design, Research, and Education for Additive Manufacturing Systems (DREAMS for short) Laboratory. He has been instrumental in integrating 3-D printing, or additive manufacturing, into the College of Engineering curriculum through mentoring senior capstone design projects in product design, and by teaching courses on 3-D printing open to both undergraduate and graduate students. His course engages students in the science of 3-D printing through project-based pedagogy.

Williams received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Georgia Tech.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

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