short bio

Dr. Thorsten Wuest is a Full Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing at the University of South Carolina . His research focusses on Smart and Advanced Manufacturing, AI/ML incl., Hybrid Analytics and Federated Learning, Industry 4.0, Digital Supply Networks, Product Service Systems, as well as closed-loop, item-level Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) with a focus on Smart Manufacturing Systems. Dr. Wuest's research is funded by a variety of federal agencies (incl. NSF, NIST, DoD, EPA, NIH, CESMII/DoE), international agencies (incl. Thomas Jefferson Fund, DFG, EC, BMBF, etc.), and industry. In his research, he puts an emphasis on an interdisciplinary and holistic approach towards analysis and problem solving. He is a globally recognized Smart Manufacturing thought leader and one of SME's 20 most influential professors in smart manufacturing. In addition to publishing his work in the premier academic outlets of his field, he was featured by Forbes, Futurism, IndustryWeek, the World Economic Forum, CBC Radio, and World Manufacturing Forum, etc. He is involved in several professional societies in his field, among others, he is a member of IFIP WG 5.1 & 5.7, IFAC TC 5.3, SME, a senior member of IISE, and research affiliate of the CIRP. Dr. Wuest gave invited talks in more than 10 countries, served on Ph.D. committees in 7 countries, published three award-winning books and over 170 peer-reviewed articles in international archival journals and conferences gathering over 12,600 citations to-date. He serves as Vice-Chair Americas for the IFIP WG 5.7, is an Associate Editor for the Robotics & Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (RCIM), ASTM Journal Smart and Sustainable Manufacturing Systems (SSMS), and the International Journal of Manufacturing Research (IJMR), and a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Manufacturing Systems (JMSY) and Production & Manufacturing Research (PMR) and several more. He serves on the Advisory Board for multiple companies and startups, including the Knudsen Institute, Maven Machines, Veepio, Sustainment, and SavePlanetEarth.

Dr. Wuest was awarded his Ph.D. in Production Engineering with Summa Cum Laude by the University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany in 2014. Previously, Dr. Wuest received his Master's (German 5-year Diploma) in Industrial Engineering and Management and graduated top of the class in the International Business Master's program at the AUTUniversity, Auckland, New Zealand. He has worked as a research scientist for BIBA - Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistik GmbH in Bremen from 2009-2015. He taught undergraduate and graduate classes at the University of Bremen and supervised multiple Master and Bachelor theses as well as student research projects. In 2013/2014, Dr. Wuest received a prestigious doctoral grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and furthered his research for ten months at the Viterbi School of Engineering, Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, USA. From 2015-2024, he served as Assistant Professor (tenure-track) (2015-2021) and tenured Associate Professor (2021-2024) for Smart and Advanced Manufacturing at the Industrial and Management Systems Engineering department, Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, West Virginia University, WV, USA and was named inaugural J. Wayne and Kathy Richards Faculty Fellow in Engineering in 2017. In his role, Dr. Wuest is involved in research, teaching at graduate and undergraduate level, as well as service activities. He was a member of the Provost's Academic Transformation Advisory Committee and the Strategic Core Transformation Team at WVU (prior to academic transformation period), the WVU Faculty Senate (2021-2024), and Statler College Glen H. Hiner Dean search committee in 2019. He received the Statler Outstanding Teacher of the Year 2019 award, 2022 Statler Outstanding Researcher of the Year/Senior award (2022), and in 2016 he was selected as a fellow of the IDEA Fellowship in the office of the Provost of West Virginia University to further entrepreneurship across campus and develop a new course on Product-Service Systems (IENG493A/593A), receiving outstanding student evaluations (5/5).  He taught over ~1,950 undergraduate and graduate students as the instructor of record at WVU and USC to-date.