Craig Blue serves as ORNL’s chief manufacturing officer and defense manufacturing program director and is founding director of ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. He has nearly three decades of experience as a distinguished R&D staff scientist in building teams and programs in the field of materials and manufacturing science. Craig helped initiate DOE’s Carbon Fiber Technology Facility at ORNL, served as the founding CEO of the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation and stewarded ORNL’s role in several national institutes including the Critical Materials Institute, National Alliance for Water Innovation Institute, Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute and America’s Cutting Edge, a national machine tool and workforce development program.
Craig received his doctorate in materials science and engineering from the University of Cincinnati. He is a fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers with more than 100 journal publications, over than 32 patents, and 14 R&D 100 Awards. He a Battelle Distinguished Inventor, fellow of ASM International, fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and received the Gordon Battelle Prize for Technology Impact in 2010. He has championed workforce development through his support for programs including ACE workforce initiatives through IACMI and the Innovation Crossroads entrepreneurship program. He has held adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, University of North Texas, and Colorado School of Mines, and in 2024 was selected by the Society of