Chinedum ("Chi") Okwudire is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Miller Faculty Scholar at the University of Michigan, and also the founder and CTO of Ulendo. Prior to joining Michigan, he was the mechatronic systems optimization team leader at DMG Mori USA, based in Davis, CA. His research is focused on exploiting knowledge at the intersection of machine design, control and computing to boost the performance of manufacturing automation systems at low cost. Chi has received a number of awards including the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation; the Young Investigator Award from the International Symposium on Flexible Automation; the Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer and the Education awards from SME; the Ralph Teetor Educational Award from SAE International; and the Russell Severance Springer Visiting Professorship from UC Berkeley. He was recently named by SME as one of the 25 Leaders Transforming Manufacturing.