Prof. Cao has been active on national and international stages. She served as the Program Director of the Materials Processing and Manufacturing (MPM) program at NSF from 2003 to 2005. During that short two-year period, under her leadership, the WTEC Study on Micro-manufacturing was conducted and co-sponsored by four government agencies (NSF, DoD, DOE, NIST) and more than ten NSF programs. She co-initiated the joint-funding between NSF and DOE for her MPM program. Through collaboration with other programs, she was able to increase funding for her program by over 20%. She is one of the main driving forces behind the well-received NSF workshops on CAREER development. Prof. Cao has served as President of the North American Manufacturing Research Institute of SME, Chair of ASME’s Manufacturing Engineering Division, and Chair of the Scientific and Technical Committee on Forming for CIRP. She has chaired multiple ASME committees, including the Technical Committee on Publications and Communications, the M. Eugene Merchant Medal Committee, the Ehmann Manufacturing Medal Committee, and the Committee of Administration and Finance. She was awarded the ASME Dedicated Service Award. Prof. Cao was an invited speaker at the workshops on additive manufacturing in 2018 and a committee member of the Convergent Manufacturing Platform workshop in 2021 organized by the National Academies. Prof. Cao now serves on the National Materials and Manufacturing Board of the National Academies, Board of Directors of SME, Board of mHUB – accelerator for hardtech innovation and manufacturing in Chicago, and a member of the National Academies’ consensus study “Option of A National Plan for Smart Manufacturing” sponsored by DOE.
NU Service
Chair, Office for Research Advisory Council, 2021 – present
Member, AI@Northwestern Committee, 2020 – present
Member, Faculty Hiring Search Committee, Materials Science and Engineering, 2019 – 2020
Member, Advisory Board for the Office of Fellowships, September 2019 – present
Member, IIN Ryan Fellowship Review Committee, 2018 – present
Chair, Faculty Hiring Search Committee, Mechanical Engineering, 2017 – 2018
Member, Faculty Hiring Search Committee, Physics and Astronomy, 2016
Member, Program Review of School of Education and Social Policy, 2016
Member, Faculty Hiring Search Committee, Mechanical Engineering, 2016
Member, Search Committee for Senior Vice President for Business and Finance, Feb. – June 2014
Associate Vice President for Research, October 2012 - August 2021, August 2023 - Present
Member, Advisory Council for the Office of Fellowships, September 2013 - 2018
Member, Tenure and Promotion Committee, McCormick, Northwestern University, Sept. 2011 – August 2013
Member, The Limited Submissions Advisory Committee, Northwestern University, Sept. 2009 – August 2010
Member, Faculty Search Committee, Sept. 2009 – Feb. 2010
Chair, ME Graduate Studies, Mechanical Engineering, Sept. 2007 – August 2012
National Science Foundation (NSF) Service
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Panelist, the World Technology Evaluation Study on Advanced Manufacturing, www.wtec.org/advmfg, sponsored by NSF.
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Initiated the World Technology Evaluation Study on Micro-manufacturing, www.wtec.org/micromfg, Dec. 2003 – September 2005, co-sponsored by NSF, ONR, DOE and NIST.
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Co-initiated joint proposal review and co-funding for proposals in the area of predictive polymer processing between NSF/DMII and DOE, 2005.
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Co-initiated joint proposal review and co-funding for proposals in the area of coating and deposition between NSF/DMII and NSF/CMS, 2004 – 2005.
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Co-initiated joint proposal review and co-funding for proposals in the area of thermo-related processes between NSF/DMII and NSF/CTS, 2004.
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Co-sponsored the CAREER proposal writing workshop, 2004 - 2005.
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Co-sponsored the Predictive Modeling workshop, July 2005.
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Initiated and sponsored the Biomanufacturing workshop, June 2005.
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Member, Engineering workgroup on Cyberinfrastructure, 2005
Professional Activities
Member, Selection Committee of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Global STEM Post-doctoral Fellowship, October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2026
Member, Workshop on “Additive Manufacturing: Projected Scientific Breakthroughs in 2027-2032”, DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory Technology Forecasting Office, March 2023.
Chair, SME International Awards and Recognition Committee, Jan. 2023 – present
Member, Option of A National Plan for Smart Manufacturing: A Consensus Study, The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, August 2022 – February 2024.
Member, National Academies’ National Materials and Manufacturing Board, February 24, 2022 – December 31, 2024.
Chair, ASME Technical Committee on Publications and Communications, January 1, 2022 –
December 31, 2024.
Member, Planning Committee, Convergent Manufacturing [Platform] - A Future of Additive,
Subtractive, and Transformative Manufacturing: A Workshop, The National Academy of
Science, Engineering and Medicine, July 2021 – March 2022.
Member, Research Intelligence Working Group, NSF Engineering Research Vision Alliance,
2021 – present.
Member, SME International Awards and Recognition Committee, Jan. 2021 – Dec. 2021
External Review Board, NSF Consortium for Louisiana Materials Design Alliance (LAMDA), July
2020 - June 2025.
Member, ASME Manufacturing Public Policy Task Force, ASME, June 2020 – present.
Chair, Ehmann Manufacturing Medal, ASME, January 2020 – December 2022.
Member, Review committee, Schmidt Science Fellows, U.K., 2019.
Member, International Expert Panel, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical
University of Denmark, October 2019 – November 2019.
Member, ASME Technical Committee on Publications and Communications, January 1, 2019 –
December 31, 2021.
Member, Engineering Panel of Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, November 2018 – Oct.
2022.
Member, Advisory Board, NSF Nanomanufacturing Node, University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, 2018 – present.
Vice-Chair, Additive Manufacturing Collaborative Working Group, The International Academy for
Production Engineering (CIRP), January 2018 – December 2020.
Chair, STC-Forming, The International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP), January
2017 – December 2019.
Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Digital Manufacturing and Design (DManD) Centre, Singapore University of Technology and Design, July 2016 – 2019
Member, Board of Directors, mHub, Chicago, May 2016 – present
External Review Board, NSF Consortium for Innovation in Manufacturing and Materials, Louisiana, Oct. 2015 to September 2020
Member, Technical Advisory Board, Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute, 2014 - present
Member, Advisory Committee, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 2014 – present
External Academic Advisor, Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, 2014 – 2017
Member, Scientific Committee, Surface Integrity (3rd CIRP CSI), Charlotte, NC, June 8-10, 2016
Vice-Chair, STC-Forming, The International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP), January 2014 – December 2016
Member, Chicago Metro Metals Consortium (CMMC) Research and Innovation Subcommittee, 2014 - present
Member, SME International Director and Member Council Nominating Committee, 2013 - 2014
Panelist, World Technology Evaluation Study on System Engineering for Renewable Energy, December 2012 – October 2013
Panelist, World Technology Evaluation Study on Transforming Tools of Emerging and Converging Technologies for Societal Benefit (beyond Nano-Bio-Info-Cognitive Technologies, NBIC2) http://www.wtec.org/NBIC2/index.html, June 2012 – June 2013
Chair, M. Eugene Merchant Medal Committee of ASME/SME, July 2012 – June 2015
Chair, SME/NAMRI Honors Committee, June 2012 – June 2013
President, SME/North America Manufacturing Research Institution, June 2011 - June 2012.
Secretary, STC-Forming, The International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP), January 2011- December 2013.
President-elect, SME/North America Manufacturing Research Institution, May 2011 - 2011.
Member, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc. Medal Committee, July 2010 – June 2013.
Chair, Administration and Finance Committee, ASME Technical Communities, July 2009 – June 2012.
Vice Chair, Manufacturing Group, ASME, July 2009 – June 2010.
Member, M. Eugene Merchant Medal Committee of ASME/SME, July 2007 - June 2010.
Secretary, SME/North America Manufacturing Research Institution, May 2009 – May 2010.
Board Member, SME/North America Manufacturing Research Institution, May 2004 - May 2010.
Member, Scientific Committee, ESAFORM (European Scientific Association for material FORMing), April 2006 – present. (2006 was the first year that ESAFORM invited researchers outside of Europe to be on the Scientific Committee)
Member, Scientific Committee, NUIFORM'07, June 2007.
Co-organizer, Workshop on Advanced High-Strength Steels, co-sponsored by NSF, DOE, and ASP, Oct. 22-23, 2006.
Organizer, Benchmark Analysis on Composite Sheet Forming, 2002 - present.
Program co-Chair, 2012 International Conference on MicroManufacturing, March 2012, Evanston, IL.
Program co-Chair, 2010 ASME/JSME International Flexible Automation, Tokyo, Japan, 2009 – 2010.
Conference co-Chair, ASME International Conference of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, Evanston, IL, Oct. 2008.
Conference co-Chair, 6th International Workshop on Microfactories, Evanston, IL, Oct. 2008
