Oak Ridge National Laboratory, UT’s Tony Schmitz elected to ASPE College of Fellows

Tony Schmitz, joint faculty researcher in machining and machine tools at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has been elected to the College of Fellows of the American Society for Precision Engineering.

Schmitz will be inducted into the inaugural class during ASPE’s annual meeting in October. He is being recognized for his contributions to the advancement of the art and practice of precision engineering by conducting significant original research, innovations, education and outreach and overall service to the precision engineering profession.

“It is an honor to be elected, and I look forward to being a part of the inaugural ASPE College of Fellows,” Schmitz said. “I attended my first ASPE meeting in 1994 as a graduate student and have been actively involved in the organization since then. ASPE has been an important partner in my manufacturing research career, providing strategic guidance and support over the decades as I’ve worked to enable the next-generation of smart manufacturing.”

Schmitz joined ORNL in 2019 to support manufacturing research efforts in machining dynamics. He advises students, fellow researchers and industry at the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL, where research is underway to advance the nation’s machine tool and machining industry.

At UT, Schmitz founded the Machine Tool Research Center where he focuses on helping student engineers improve component production accuracy, which is a critical need for private and defense sectors.

“We congratulate Tony on this achievement,” ORNL’s Scott Smith, intelligent machine tools group leader, said. “Tony is a visionary in the engineering and manufacturing areas, and his expertise in machine tools is renowned throughout the United States. His contributions are already having a significant impact on the lab’s research and development initiatives.”

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In addition to his work with ORNL and UT, Schmitz is a 2011 Sports Emmy Award winner for his scientific contributions to the Science of NFL Football video series for NBC. He has held faculty positions with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Florida.

Schmitz earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.