Guha Manogharan received the award at the SME North American Manufacturing Research Conference (NAMRC), held at Penn State in June. Credit: Photo provided by Guha Manogharan.
Guha Manogharan receives early career manufacturing award
July 30, 2026
By Tucker Leighty-Phillips
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Guha Manogharan, professor of mechanical engineering, was recently awarded the Chao and Trigger Young Manufacturing Engineer Award by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The award recognizes an under-40 manufacturing researcher with potential for significant contributions to the science and technology of manufacturing processes.
In the citation for this year’s award, ASME recognized Manogharan’s “significant and outstanding” contributions to additive manufacturing, 3D sand printing and biomedical applications of additive manufacturing. They also honored him for his “national leadership in the emerging field of hybrid manufacturing.”
“It is an honor to receive this recognition from the manufacturing research community on the early impact of our lab’s contributions,” Manogharan said, while also acknowledging the efforts of those who work with him. “My lab team is amazing and deserve the credit.”
Manogharan runs the Systems for Hybrid-Additive Process Engineering (SHAPE) Lab, which focuses on additive-hybrid manufacturing in a non-conventional sense, as well as discovering new manufacturing methods.
Manogharan said the SHAPE Lab is leading efforts in “transforming the best practices of the oldest processes by leveraging the design freedom of the newest methods.”
“Over 90% of all manufactured goods and machinery use a cast part,” Manogharan said. “Sand casting is a manufacturing process that dates to 7000 BC and accounts for 70% of all cast parts.”
Manogharan cited its critical applications across fields, including defense, energy, aerospace and automotive industries.
“However, conventional sand casting is regarded as a process of uncertainty due to its tendency to render higher scrap rates, even in completely controlled processing environments,” Manogharan said. “We want to know how additive manufacturing can be leveraged for fully harnessing traditional manufacturing methods.”
The Chao and Trigger Young Manufacturing Award was established in 2011, and recipients are selected through an open nomination process from all ASME members.
In addition to the Chao and Trigger award, Manogharan has also been named an International Emerging Professional (IEP) by the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM), has received an Outstanding Young Researcher by the Freeform and Additive Manufacturing (FAME Jr.) Award, the SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer award and the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Manufacturing and Design Outstanding Young Investigator Award.
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