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-> Join our team! We are looking for motivated Ph.D. & M.S. researchers in Smart Mfg, AI/ML, Federated Learning, & Blockchain etc. to join us!
Thorsten Wuest, Ph.D.
Thorsten Wuest, Ph.D.
Full Professor
The University of South Carolina
Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing
Department of Mechanical Engineering
office: McNAIR, Suite 120A
lab: McNAIR
Columbia, SC, USA
email: twuest [at] sc.edu
news
news
[04/30/2025] Excited to share a new paper with some very old friends and collaborators: "Towards Human Modeling for Human-Robot Collaboration and Digital Twins in Industrial Environments: Research Status, Prospects, and Challenges" lead by Guoyi Xia (w./ Ghrairi, Z., Wuest, T., Hribernik, K., Heuermann, A., Liu, F., Liu, H., Thoben, K.-D. in Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (RCIM) - check it out, it's open access!
[04/25/2025] Congrats to the team on the new paper "A data-efficient sequential learning framework for melt pool defect classification in Laser Powder Bed Fusion" that was just accepted in the premier Journal of Manufacturing Processes (JMP)! (authors: Raihan, A.S., Harper, A., Era, I.Z., Al-Shebeeb, O., Wuest, T., Das, S., & Ahmed, I. )
[04/10/2025] Big congratulations to Carlos Dodero Fernandez for successfully defending his Masters in Industrial Engineering today! He did fantastic research on developing a digital twin for our Festo Didactic CPlab using Unity and TaaS/MQTT incl. development of a selection framework for users to identify a fitting development engine for their requirements. And not only that, during his Master's he also founded and grew his own startup Stud-IA. He was always ready to help and his driven and independent nature helped him to overcome major challenges, technical and otherwise (incl. my transition to USC) and always deliver great work and solutions.
[03/07/2025] Congrats to the team for having 3 papers accepted to NAMRC'25 that will be published in Manufacturing Letters and JMS! I am excited as I suspect the papers to be impactful and serve both industry and academic constituents.
[03/04/2025] Congrats to Dr. Alireza Jaribion for successfully defending your PhD on March 4th, 2025 at Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland - and thanks for the hospitality and Karonkka!
[02/28/2025] About to visit our friends at Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland to serve as the opponent for Alireza Jaribion's Ph.D. defense on March 4th, 2025 before heading to Cologne, Germany on March 5/6, 2025 to serve as an international expert on the review panel for large research infrastructure grants.
[02/28/2025] Congrats to Faid and Moji for their exciting collaborative work on "Real-Time Defect Detection and Classification in Robotic Assembly Lines: A Machine Learning Framework" that was just accepted in the premier Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (RCIM) journal! I am especially happy about this paper as it adds value beyond the individual progress of both Fadi and Moji (and of course of the teams at NeXt and the SM lab. (authors: El Kalach, F., Farahani, M., Wuest, T., & Harik, R.)
[02/28/2025] Congrats to Moji and the whole team on the second seminal paper on time-series in Manufacturing. This paper investigates the use of TS forecasting and thus adds to the growing body of knowledge for both industry and academia. The paper "Time-Series Forecasting in Smart Manufacturing Systems: An Experimental Evaluation of State-of-the-Art Machine Learning Algorithms" was just accepted in the premier Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (RCIM) journal! (authors: Farahani, M., El Kalach, F., Harper, A., McChormick, M., Harik, R., & Wuest, T. )
[02/06/2025] Congratulations to Josselyne and the team on the brand-new paper 'A reference framework for Supplier 4.0 development programs: a Delphi study' published in the International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications.
[01/31/2025] Read the piece on the new USC IE program featuring our Smart Manufacturing team here.
[01/25/2025] Congrats to the team for several minor and major revision descions on their NAMRC contributions!
[01/16/2025] Welcome (back) Moji, joinigng our team as a Post Doc after completing his PhD, and Irfan, joining us as a PhD student after his MS at UT Tyler.
[12/20/2024] Congratulations to Sameer and the team (Karan, Muztoba, Hannu, and Mikko) for getting the paper 'Designing Outcome-based Contracts for Machine Manufacturers: A Review and Proposal for Conceptual Model' accepted in the Journal of Business Models.
[12/11/2024] Congratulations to Carlos for passing his MS proposal defense today! Well done and can't wait to see the full Digital Twin model of the CPlab in action next semester!
[for older 'news', see news time machine]
> become part of our team <
> become part of our team <
You are a talented, motivated, and dedicated future Ph.D. student, M.S. student, or Post-Doc and identify yourself with our core research area of Smart Manufacturing? You want to work in a fast paced environment and are interested in being a part of a diverse team engaged in a variety of exciting research projects?
Please fill out this application form introducing yourself, your background, and your research interest and include your CV, references, and publications. Make sure to check our teams' recent publications and projects, and ideally provide first ideas and research questions you plan to explore in greater detail.
short bio
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 180 peer-reviewed articles in international archival journals and conferences gathering over 13,000 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.
education
education
Ph.D. (Dr.-Ing.) in Production Engineering, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
Master of Professional Business Studies (MPBS), AUT University - Business School, Auckland, New Zealand.
Master of Science (Dipl.-Wi.-Ing.) in Industrial Engineering and Management, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
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