Joshua Vaughan

Bio

Joshua Vaughan is currently the Group Leader for the Manufacturing Automation and Controls Group within the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Within the MDF, Dr. Vaughan conducts research on the controls systems for a variety of advanced manufacturing systems, including a robotic thermoset 3D printer, a system combining additive manufacturing and compression molding, and several multi-agent additive manufacturing systems. Across those systems, he is working to develop open-source, data-driven controls algorithms for advanced manufacturing.  Dr. Vaughan is currently the principle investigator on the Automation and Controls thrust area of the MDF Annual Operating Plan.

Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Vaughan was an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette). Dr. Vaughan received his Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2008. Upon graduation, he completed postdoctoral appointments at Tokyo Institute of Technology and Georgia Tech. He joined the faculty at UL Lafayette in August of 2012. While at UL Lafayette, Dr. Vaughan was the winner of the 2013-2014 Rising Star Award, the 2015 Young Researcher of the Year, the 2014-2016 Rising Star Award, 2014-2016 Innovator Award, 2016-2018 Innovator Award, the 2017-2018 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award, and the 2021 Outstanding Master's Mentor Award. Dr. Vaughan's current research interests include data-driven controls for agile/flexible automation, the integration of conventional control methods and machine learning, multi-agent additive manufacturing, and mobile robotics for inspection, maintenance, and construction.

Awards

2024 - R&D 100 winner for MedUSA: Large-Scale Multiagent Wire-Arc Additive Manufacturing

2024 - Runner up for SME Aubin AM Case Study Award for Breaking the 100 lb/h Barrier via Multi-agent Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

2023 - R&D 100 winner for Precise, Continuous, & High-Speed Manufacturing of Thermoplastic Composites Using Additive Manufacturing-Compression Molding (AM-CM)

2023 - R&D 100 winner for OpeN-AM: A Platform for Operando Neutron Diffraction Measurements of Additive Manufacturing

2021 - University of Louisiana at Lafayette Outstanding Master's Mentor Award

2021 - Runner up for SME Aubin AM Case Study Award for A New Way of 3D Printing: Site-Specific Process-Parameter Modifications via Closed-Loop Control for Enabling Dynamic Bead Geometries and the Embossing Effect

2020 - 2020 Federal Energy and Water Management (FEMP) Director's Award Winner

2019 -- 2020 - University of Louisiana at Lafayette Achievement in Innovation        

2017 -- 2018 - University of Louisiana at Lafayette College Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award Winner

2016 -- 2017 - University of Louisiana at Lafayette Innovator Award Winner

2014 -- 2016 - University of Louisiana at Lafayette Rising Star Award Winner

2014 -- 2016 - University of Louisiana at Lafayette Innovator Award Winner

2015 - College of Engineering Young Researcher of the Year at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette

2013 -- 2014 - University of Louisiana at Lafayette Rising Star Award Winner

Education

Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, August 2008 – Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia

M.S., Mechanical Engineering, May 2004 – Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia

B.S., Physics with Honors, May 2002 – Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, Virginia
 

Trademarks and Patents

Automated Evacuation of Pharmaceutical Tubes. U.S. Patent 10,450,108.

Methods for Near-realtime Workspace Mapping. U.S. Patent 9,818,198.

Methods and Systems for Improving Positioning Accuracy. U.S. Patent 8,975,853.

Publications

Other Publications