Narendra Dahotre, Regents Professor of materials science and engineering at UNT, was named associate vice president for the Center for Agile and Adaptive Additive Manufacturing at UNT.
Having served as interim vice president for research and innovation from February 2018 until September 2019, Dahotre will lead the new center, effective Oct. 7.
UNT’s Additive Manufacturing Laboratory, which officially opened in November 2018 at UNT’s Discovery Park, is transitioning into the Center for Agile and Adaptive Additive Manufacturing (CAAAM), funded by $10 million awarded by the 86th Texas Legislature.
In his new role, Dahotre will facilitate the expansion of the infrastructure and the resulting collaborations and research in the new center, which will lead to smart materials and environmentally friendly technologies while helping Texas develop a highly skilled workforce of engineers.
With world-renowned faculty expertise in the emerging field, UNT has developed one of the most advanced university research facilities in the nation for materials analysis, allowing faculty and industry to collaborate to advance the science and application of materials processing and additive manufacturing. Ultimately, UNT intends to establish a Texas-based prototype center that could globally transform the future of advanced manufacturing.
Mark McLellan, UNT’s new vice president for research and innovation, said Dahotre will be a valuable asset in helping move UNT forward in this emerging field.
“Narendra brings incredible experience and knowledge, helping to make UNT a leader in additive manufacturing,” McLellan said. “Narendra will contribute substantially to CAAAM because of his success as a researcher and his knowledge of UNT, and I know his leadership will be crucial to its success.”
Dahotre said he is excited for the opportunity to launch CAAAM and help establish it as a leading research center that provides students with hands-on educational opportunities in this key field.
“I am honored to lead our team of expert faculty and researchers,” Dahotre said. “With the new funding, we expect to double our infrastructure and continue to shape this field. I look forward to seeing the areas in which our research is able to expand with the new funding for CAAAM.”
Prior to serving as interim vice president of research and innovation, Dahotre worked as interim associate vice president of research and innovation and chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
Dahotre is an internationally known expert in laser-based material processing that remains the basis of present additive manufacturing technology. In 2018 he received the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Eli Whitney Productivity Award for lifetime achievement in manufacturing engineering and is a member of the National Academy of Inventors. His research has generated funding support in excess of $15 million from government and industrial organizations in addition to the recent funding for CAAAM.
In addition to having been issued 18 U.S. patents, Dahotre has published nearly 280 articles in professional journals, and is the author of four books and editor of 13 other books that focus on laser materials processing and manufacturing and surface engineering. He is a fellow of nine national and international societies, including the American Society of Materials, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Association of Advancement of Science and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. He also is a founding editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Additive and Subtractive Manufacturing and editor of the Journal of Lasers and Optics.
Dahotre joined UNT in 2010, in fall 2016, he earned the Faculty Leadership Award, and in 2017 he received UNT’s Innovator Award. Prior to joining UNT, Dahotre had a joint faculty appointment with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and was director, deputy director and a senior faculty member of the Center of Excellence for Laser Applications at the University of Tennessee, Space Institute-Tullahoma.
Dahotre earned his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Michigan State University, his master’s degree in metallurgical engineering from Michigan State University and his bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering from the University of Poona in India.