Former ASME Federal Fellows

2021-2022

Jaclyn Brennan, PhD, served as ASME's Congressional Fellow (Bioengineering) in the office of the Honorable Anna Eshoo (D-CA) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Jaclyn recently completed her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from The George Washington University and currently holds a Postdoctoral Researcher position in the same lab. Her research expertise spans cardiovascular bioengineering and cardiac electrophysiology. During her PhD, Jaclyn had the unique opportunity to perform experiments on explanted donor human hearts that were rejected for transplantation, and this work resulted in the discovery of two spatially distinct leading pacemakers in the mammalian heart. Jaclyn holds a BS in Materials Science and Engineering from Virginia Tech and an MS in Bioengineering from the University of Oklahoma. She is also an alumnus of the Whitaker International Fellows Program, where she spent a year doing basic scientific research in a hydrodynamics laboratory at École Polytechnique in Palaiseau, France. Jaclyn is passionate about both science policy and science communication. She regularly writes articles for the member magazine of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB Today) and holds a certificate in “Science Policy and Advocacy for STEM Scientists" from the University of California Irvine GPS-STEM Program.

Jaclyn's fellowship was jointly sponsored by the ASME Foundation, the ASME Bioengineering Division, and ASME Government Relations.


Elisah VandenBussche, PhD, served as ASME's Congressional Fellow (Energy) in the office of the Honorable Paul Tonko (D-NY) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Elisah recently completed her PhD in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science (CEMS) from the University of Minnesota. Her graduate work focused on using novel techniques to better understand heat and electron transport at the nanoscale in photovoltaic materials. She also helped to pioneer the use of pulsed electron beams to minimize and study degradation mechanisms of radiation-sensitive materials. Beyond her research, Elisah has served in several leadership positions at the University of Minnesota, including co-founding the CEMS department DEI committee and working for the UMN Institute of the Environment and the Women in Science and Engineering Initiative. In these roles, her efforts have focused on building diverse coalitions within the department, college, and university to address injustice and inequity in STEM education and in environmental and energy development spaces. She has also worked as a volunteer researcher for the Minnesota House Energy and Climate Finance and Policy Committee and helped to found the Twin Cities Science Policy Network. Elisah holds a BS in Chemical Engineering and a BA in Violin Performance from Case Western Reserve University.

Elisah's fellowship was jointly sponsored by the ASME Foundation, the ASME Petroleum Division, and ASME Government Relations.


Michael Woodmansee, PhD, served as ASME's Congressional Fellow (Manufacturing) in the office of the Honorable Chris Coons (D-DE) in the U.S. Senate. Previously, Michael was Director of European Operations for Schlumberger Oilfield Services, where he held a wide variety of roles in engineering and manufacturing, field operations, sales and marketing, HR, IT, and corporate transformation over his 15 years there. In addition to various domestic assignments across the U.S., Michael has also completed overseas assignments in Brazil, Algeria, Russia, and the UK. Prior to his time in the oilfield, Michael was a staff scientist at Jaycor where he utilized CAD modeling and optimization algorithms to predict stress fractures in military recruits. Michael has experience in heavy manufacturing at GE Transportation, medical product development at Bristol Myers Squibb, and composites manufacturing at General Composites. Michael currently manages the Amazon.com Ultra-Fast Fresh operations for the Washington DC region, where he volunteers as a Business Mentor for SCORE, providing guidance and support to current and prospective small business owners in the national capital region. Michael joined ASME in 1994, previously served in the 2004-2005 Leadership Development Initiative (currently ECLIPSE), and was a member of the Young Engineer Correspondents. Michael has been an officer of the ASME San Diego Section and later an active member of the ASME South Texas Section. He holds a BS in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University, as well as an MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, where he was awarded a doctoral fellowship from the National Physical Science Consortium and Sandia National Labs; he studied the effects of thermomechanical fatigue on microstructural evolution in solder interconnects in electronics. Michael has been licensed as a Professional Engineer in Texas since 2007.

Michael's fellowship was jointly sponsored by the ASME Foundation and ASME Government Relations.


Alaa Elwany, PhD, served as an ASME Foundation Swanson Fellow at the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO). Alaa is currently an associate professor in the Wm Michael Barnes ‘64 Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University. He is also a College of Engineering Faculty Fellow and holds a courtesy appointment at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Prior to joining Texas A&M University, Alaa served as a research scientist at the Manufacturing Systems Research Laboratory, General Motors R&D. He also held overseas appointments including faculty member at Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) and Senior Fellow at the European Institute for Statistics, Probability, and Stochastic Operations Research (EURANDOM). Alaa completed his PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and his MSc and BSc in Production Engineering from Alexandria University. He was recognized with multiple young investigator awards from leading organizations, including the ASME Chao and Trigger Young Manufacturing Engineer, SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer, NSF CAREER Award, and IBM Faculty Award. As director of AMTex laboratory at Texas A&M, Alaa’s research focuses on modeling, optimization, and control of metal additive manufacturing processes. The impacts of his research activities include enabling the fabrication of smart active metallic structures with spatially tailored properties, developing efficient printability assessment frameworks for newly designed additive manufacturing materials, and developing new data analytics tools for defect detection, part qualification, and additive manufacturing process monitoring control. He also serves on the leadership team of NASA’s STRI: Habitats Optimized for Missions of Exploration. Alaa is passionate about advanced manufacturing research and development and the U.S.’ advanced manufacturing workforce.

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2020-2021

Tim Shinbara concluded his 2020-2021 ASME Congressional Fellowship (Manufacturing) in the office of the Honorable Marco Rubio (R-FL) as of August 2021. Tim is the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for AMT – the Association for Manufacturing Technology – where he is responsible for AMT’s data-centric strategy, activities related to industrial research and development, and global manufacturing technology discovery. His expertise spans applied R&D in additive manufacturing, composite fabrication, and technology transition experience at Northrop Grumman Corporation, IT/OT data interoperability, and small business, startup endeavors providing supply chain visibility and integration. Broadly, he supports the U.S. manufacturing industry by serving as a Board Officer of the MTConnect Institute, having served as a member of the Leadership Council for MForesight (U.S. government-funded think tank responding to advanced manufacturing inquiries), and having chaired or served on committees for additive manufacturing (ASTM F42.05 Materials and Processes, America Makes Executive Committee) and digital manufacturing and data interoperability (MxD, several university industrial advisory roles). Tim has volunteered his time supporting other international manufacturing initiatives through participating in ASME’s SATEC Forum on Innovation and Intelligent Manufacturing, attending the George C. Marshall Austria Program for Smart Manufacturing, and participating as a Corporate Member in the International Academy of Production Engineering (CIRP). Locally, Tim has also served as an Advisory Commissioner to Loudoun County’s Board of Supervisors and Economic Development Department supporting specialized manufacturing. Tim is a U.S. Navy veteran and has earned BS and MS degrees from Purdue University and an MBA from Pepperdine University.


Zachary Pritchard concluded his 2020-2021 ASME Congressional Fellowship (Manufacturing) on the Select Committee on Climate Crisis in the U.S. House of Representatives as of August 2021. Zach recently completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and works as a Policy Analyst at the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLoSUP). In his PhD research, Zach uses theoretical and computational modeling to study continuous vat photopolymerization methods in additive manufacturing. In particular, he has focused on improving part fidelity and increasing production rates by accounting for effects in light propagation, resin flow dynamics, and reaction kinetics. Zach’s work at CLoSUP is focused on community acceptance of renewable energy. He has studied the impact of wind infrastructure property taxes in Michigan communities and analyzed state-level ballot initiatives to mandate renewable energy. Zach holds a BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MSE in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He is also an alumnus of UM’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy program.


Chloe McPherson concluded her 2020-2021 ASME Congressional Fellowship (Energy) in the office of the Honorable Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) in the U.S. House of Representatives as of August 2021. Chloe is an Associate Government Relations Officer at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In this role, Chloe serves as editor of AAAS’ science policy newsletter, the Policy Alert, and covers Congressional hearings for the Office of Government Relations. She focuses on science communication and advocacy, playing an integral role in programs including the Catalyzing Advocacy in Science and Engineering (CASE) workshop and the Golden Goose Award. Prior to her time at AAAS, Chloe worked at the White House, focusing on electric vehicles as an intern within the Domestic Policy Council Office of Energy and Climate Change; worked in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis; and performed wind energy research at the Ames National Laboratory. She has been actively involved with the National Society of Black Engineers, serving in national and regional leadership roles. Chloe holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Mechanical Engineering and Human-Computer Interaction, both from Iowa State University. Her Master’s thesis focused on an augmented reality application to aid the engineering product design process.

Chloe's Fellowship was jointly sponsored by the ASME Foundation, the ASME Petroleum Division, and ASME Government Relations.

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2019-2020

Emily Beagle concluded her 2019-2020 ASME Congressional Fellowship (Energy) in the office of the Honorable Tina Smith (D-MN) in the U.S. Senate as of December 2020. Previously, she served on the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) as Postdoctoral Fellow in Data Curation for Energy Economics at the University of Texas at Austin. In this role, she worked jointly with UT Libraries and the Webber Energy Group in Mechanical Engineering to integrate and manage large, multicomponent datasets for energy systems. Her research interests include renewable energy deployment and integration with the electrical grid, and energy policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change. Previously, Emily also worked in the Belmont Energy Research Group at the University of Wyoming on experimental combustion research, specifically examining the co-utilization of woody biomass for energy sector emission reductions. She has also assessed the feasibility of bioenergy and other renewable energy projects using techno-economic assessment and life cycle analysis. She served as an ASME Washington Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE) intern in 2013. Emily holds BS degrees in Energy Systems Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, an MS in Mechanical Engineering, and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wyoming.

Emily's Fellowship was jointly sponsored by the ASME Foundation, the ASME Petroleum Division, and ASME Government Relations.

John T. Roth concluded his 2020 ASME Foundation Swanson Fellowship serving with the Office of Advanced Manufacturing (OAM) within the Department of Commerce at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland as of December 2020. John obtained his PhD from Michigan Technological University in 1998 and is currently a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. His research focuses on industrially based R&D, covering all technology and manufacturing readiness levels and spanning multiple fields, including manufacturing, materials, sensors, signal processing, prognostics/diagnostics, machine and sensor design, dynamic systems, cryogenics, and biomechanics. He has collaborated with over 50 different companies and universities, has over 200 technical publications, and has close to 50 technical patents & disclosures, nationally and internationally. John is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and was a recipient of the ASME Dedicated Service Award in 2010. He has been very active within ASME, having served numerous leadership roles on technical and operating boards & committees. In addition, he has served as host, chairperson, and track manager for several different ASME conferences.
 

Andrew Bremer concluded his 2019-2020 ASME Congressional Fellowship (Bioengineering) in the office of the Honorable Tina Smith (D-MN) in the U.S. Senate as of August 2020. He completed his PhD at UC Berkeley & UC San Francisco in the joint Graduate Program in Bioengineering, with a research focus in the field of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. His work has centered on understanding adult neural stem cell behavior in response to complex biomolecular signaling with implications for therapeutic interventions, and for elucidating cell behavior in the contexts of aging, injury, and disease. His work also includes the development and application of advanced in vitro cell culture platforms. Beyond his research, Andrew has served in several departmental and cross-campus leadership positions. In these roles, his efforts have included building initiatives to increase civic engagement among engineers and scientists, to expand opportunities for STEM professionals to connect their work with wider audiences, and to increase educational outreach, particularly to students from historically underrepresented groups within STEM. Andrew holds a BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has previously taught high school chemistry and physics.

Andrew's Fellowship was jointly sponsored by the ASME Foundation, the ASME Bioengineering Division, and ASME Government Relations.

 

Kevin Jurrens concluded his 2019-2020 ASME Congressional Fellowship (Manufacturing) in the office of the Honorable Tim Ryan (D-OH) in the U.S. House of Representatives as of August 2020. Kevin previously served as the Deputy Chief of the Intelligent Systems Division in the Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He is a mechanical engineer with 30+ years dedicated to advanced manufacturing. At NIST, Kevin has served in a variety of technical and management roles for federal manufacturing programs, including as researcher, technical project leader, program manager, and division chief. In his current position, Kevin provides management and leadership for the staff and manufacturing research programs of the Intelligent Systems Division and is responsible for much of the division's day-to-day operations. Kevin’s current technical focus at NIST is advancement of measurement science and standards for the additive manufacturing industry, where he provides leadership in standards development and coordination, creation of industry roadmaps, and engagement with industry consortiums and federal agencies. Kevin received degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nebraska and the University of Kansas. As a member of ASME and ASTM, he has authored many technical publications on manufacturing applications and manufacturing system integration. Kevin has twice received the U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Award for Superior Federal Service and was recently awarded the Distinguished Service Award by ASTM International.
 

Asha Balakrishnan concluded her 2019-2020 ASME Congressional Fellowship (Manufacturing) on the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology in the U.S. House of Representatives as of June 2020. Asha previously worked as a Research Staff Member at the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI), a Federally Funded Research and Development Center that provides rigorous and objective analysis of science and technology policy issues for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). She brings engineering expertise to STPI work in the areas of space technologies, program evaluation, advanced manufacturing, and STEM education and workforce training. Recently, she has collaborated with colleagues on a number of reports on small satellite technologies and space situational awareness. Her work supported the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) Advanced Manufacturing reports and initiatives from 2011 to 2014. In addition, she has conducted a number of program evaluations for Federal R&D and STEM education programs. Some of her previous research focused on developing experimentation techniques and biomechanical models of the brain to understand traumatic brain injury. Prior to her PhD, Asha worked as a design engineer in the semiconductor and auto industries. She has previously held an adjunct faculty position in the mechanical engineering department teaching the capstone design course at George Washington University. Asha has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois. Both her MS and PhD are in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 

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2018-2019

Marc Santos is a former 2018-2019 ASME Congressional Fellow who served in the office of the Honorable Christopher Coons, U.S. Senate, where he worked on Advanced Manufacturing and other public policy issues. Previously he was an Associate at Hazen and Sawyer serving as the Southwest Water Practice Lead, Corpus Christi Operations Manager, and subject matter expert in emergency preparedness and response. His work focuses on research, planning, design, construction, and operations solutions for drinking water and wastewater treatment and transmission systems. Marc is a licensed Professional Engineer in California and Texas and serves as the Engineer of Record to deliver projects for municipal clients. Marc previously served as the 2008 ASME Washington Internship for Students of Engineering (WISE) Intern, WISE Subcommittee Chair on the ASME Committee on Government Relations, and as an Executive Committee member for the ASME Volunteer Orientation and Leadership Training (VOLT) Academy. Marc holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Master of Engineering in Environmental Engineering from Manhattan College.

 

KC Morris is a former 2018-2020 ASME Congressional Fellow who served in the office of the Honorable Tom Reed, U.S. House of Representatives, where she worked on Advanced Manufacturing and other public policy issues. KC leads the Information, Modeling, and Testing Group in the Engineering Lab at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). For 30 years KC has contributed her expertise in computing and engineering information systems to the standards that form the basis for today’s digital manufacturing capabilities. Her current work focuses on infusing smart technologies into the manufacturing sector while ensuring that new practices lead to more competitive and sustainable manufacturing. This includes identifying and developing techniques for designing, testing, and evaluating smart manufacturing systems and standards. The research has resulted in new standards within ASTM International where she serves on the executive committee of E60 Committee on Sustainability and is vice-chair of ASTM E60.13 on Sustainable Manufacturing. The standards are also driving new research directions for defining reusable abstractions of manufacturing processes highlighted through a competition at the MSEC/NAMRC conferences—ASME’s Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (MSEC) and SME's North American Manufacturing Research Conference (NAMRC). KC has over 75 publications and graduated from the University of Chicago with a BA in Political Science and from Illinois Institute of Technology with an MS in Computer Science.

 

Dr. Hong Liang is a former 2018-2019 ASME Foundation Swanson Fellow who served at the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO), hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology located at Gaithersburg, Maryland. Dr. Liang is Oscar S. Wyatt Jr. Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Her research areas are advanced materials, structures, and nanomanufacturing focusing on surface science, interface engineering, and tribology. Her services to the communities include being an editor of Tribology International; regional editor (North America) of Surface Topography: Metrology and Properties; associate editor of Friction; and a member of the editorial board of several others. She served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) from 2007 to 2013. In 2007, she was the STLE Annual Meeting Program Committee (AMPC) chair after being an AMPC committee member for 9 years. Dr. Liang is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and a Fellow of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE). Dr. Liang received her MS and PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology.