ORNL’s Brian Post named SME Young Engineer of the Year

Brian Post, a researcher in large-scale additive manufacturing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been selected as a recipient of the 2020 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award by the Society of Mechanical Engineers (SME).

Post was one of 15 engineers 35 and younger from throughout North America recognized for making considerable contributions to manufacturing technologies, operations and processes.

“It is an honor to be recognized by SME,” Post said. “As an early career researcher, being selected by SME as a significant contributor to engineering shows the value the organization places on innovation.”

Since joining ORNL in 2010, Post has been instrumental in the development of large-scale additive manufacturing processes capable of producing parts a thousand times faster than commercially available systems. His research efforts led to the development of the world’s first 3D printed car, the Strati, and ORNL’s 3D printed Shelby Cobra, which were produced using Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) technology.

“Brian is an invaluable researcher on the manufacturing systems research team,” said Stan Wullschleger, interim associate laboratory director of energy and environmental sciences at ORNL. “He has led some of the most innovative projects at the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL and it is this type of ingenuity that is driving the next generation of science and technology innovation.”

In addition, to the 3D printed vehicles, Post has helped develop robotic technologies, including underwater manipulation systems and prosthetic applications. He’s also developed molds for the 3D printing of wind blades and gel fish. His current research focuses on producing tooling for precast concrete installations and developing a rapidly deployable cable driven 3D printer for printing concrete objects at construction scale.

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Post earned his PhD and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

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