VSU Commits Five Faculty Members to Support Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing Research Efforts

RICHMOND, VA., OCTOBER 2, 2012 – The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) today announced that Virginia State University (VSU) has committed to provide CCAM with five faculty members to support its research efforts in surface engineering and manufacturing systems.
Two of the faculty members will work directly at the CCAM facility, while three will split time between CCAM and VSU.  CCAM Board Member and VSU Dean of Engineering Keith Williamson believes the arrangement will provide a closer link between the University and the manufacturing facility.  “Having a direct faculty link between the VSU campus and CCAM facility provides extraordinary opportunities for mentoring students and developing world-class research talent,” he said.

“VSU has been a valuable partner to CCAM from the beginning. This announcement is just one more way VSU demonstrates its belief in CCAM,” said David R. Lohr, president and executive director of CCAM. “The distinguished faculty at VSU bring international perspective in a range of different manufacturing and engineering capacities. I have no doubt that their experience and energy, together with the capabilities of our industry and university members, will make meaningful contributions to the advanced manufacturing R&D underway at CCAM.”

VSU faculty members who will be working onsite at CCAM include:

• Dr. Pallant Ramsundar – A research professor who earned his Ph.D. in Rapid Manufacturing from the University of Cambridge in England.  Dr. Ramsundar’s research interests include product design and development, flexible manufacturing solutions, manufacturing automation and real time production control and management.
• Dr. Chandan Samantaray – An assistant professor in the Department of Physics, Dr. Samantaray has 14 years of research experience in the field of surface science and engineering, thin film ceramic coatings and nano-manufacturing.
• Dr. Zhenhua Wu – An assistant professor in the Department of Engineering, Dr. Wu’s research interests include manufacturing automation control and fault diagnosis, nano material and manufacturing, sustainable manufacturing and vehicle noise vibration and harshness.
• Dr. Wei-Bang Chen – An assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Dr. Chen’s research experience includes bioinformatics, health informatics, laboratory informatics, multimedia data mining, computer forensics and cyber security.
• Dr. Mahmud Hossain – An assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Dr. Hossain’s research interests include data mining and machine learning, database systems, text analytics, visual analytics, computational biology, artificial intelligence, transfer learning, and distributed and parallel computing.

Drs. Ramsundar and Samantary will join the research staff at CCAM while Drs. Hossain, Chen, and Wu will combine teaching duties at VSU with research at CCAM.

“Our faculty represents some of the most intelligent, solution-oriented minds in engineering and manufacturing research,” said VSU President Keith T. Miller. “We are honored to share their expertise with CCAM and its members, as we strive together to make a global impact on the manufacturing industry.”
CCAM is a collaborative research center that partners global manufacturing companies with Virginia’s top research universities and CCAM’s own expert engineers and scientists. Working together under one roof on challenges common to advanced manufacturing, CCAM accelerates the transfer of research discovery and innovation to commercial, production-line use.

CCAM recently completed construction of its new, state-of-the-art, 60,000-square-foot facility in Prince George County, VA, just south of Richmond. The building features computational and engineering research labs in addition to high bay production space for commercial scale equipment and other tools.

About the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing
CCAM is a research-based collaboration between the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Virginia State University and manufacturing companies worldwide. Manufacturers join CCAM as members and guide research, leveraging both university faculty and CCAM scientists in two focus areas: surface engineering and manufacturing systems. CCAM has built a 60,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art research facility in Prince George County, VA, adjacent to Rolls-Royce’s jet engine components plant. CCAM took occupancy of the research center on September 11, 2012. For more information, visit www.ccam-va.com.

About Virginia State University
Virginia State University, founded in 1882, is the nation’s first, fully state supported, four-year institution of higher learning for Blacks. VSU, one of Virginia’s two, land-grant institutions, has twice been acknowledged by U.S. News & World Report as the top, public, masters level Historically Black College or University in America.

Led by 13th president, Dr. Keith T. Miller, VSU offers its more than 6,000 students educational opportunities in 52 baccalaureate, masters and doctoral degree programs. VSU’s main campus encompasses 236 acres. The University boasts a 315,000-volume library; a wireless campus; and upgraded athletic facilities. VSU also owns and operates 416-acre Randolph Farm.