Dr. Ramy Harik, a Lebanese professor based in the US, has recently made it to Smart Manufacturing magazine’s list of 20 most influential professors in smart manufacturing.
Dr. Harik is a faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of South Carolina (USC), as well as a resident researcher at the McNAIR Center for Aerospace Innovation and Research.
He is also a Fullbright Scholar (an American Cultural Exchange Program) and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Masters in Automated Manufacturing, and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering.
The Lebanese professor established the Future Factories laboratory at USC.
The advanced lab contains a plethora of industrial equipment, including robots, drones, smart glasses, and AR devices.
Dr. Harik is currently working on an online smart manufacturing course based on this cutting-edge laboratory, which will be the “active testbed for the online course,” he says.
“I want to make this curriculum as widely available as possible to entice the future workforce on the topic of smart manufacturing and manufacturing jobs that are passionately intriguing,” the scholar adds.
A passionate engineering educator, Harik has taught design, manufacturing, CAD/CAM, and ergonomics to over 3,000 engineers in several countries across America, Europe, and Asia.
For his work as an educator, he received the Outstanding Young Educator Award from Pi Tau Sigma Honor Society at USC, in 2016.
Dr. Ramy Harik is a Lebanese University graduate and used to teach Industrial and Mechanical Engineering courses – with a focus on computer-aided design and manufacturing – at the Lebanese American University (LAU).
He was a very active faculty at LAU, where he taught both undergraduate and graduate courses between 2007 and 2014.
His more recent work has acquired over $3 million in funding from several major agencies, including NASA – where he is currently an affiliated research scientist- and Boeing.
In July last year, Introduction to Advanced Manufacturing, which Dr. Ramy Harik co-authored, was published.
Among the many ambitions that he seeks to realize in the future is the establishment of a network of labs, similar to his original Future Factories at USC.
Such a network, he hopes, would combine cyber manufacturing, automation, and advanced manufacturing concepts to form an “ecosystem” for future students to explore and experiment with the concepts.
When he’s not working, the professor spends time maintaining his home garden, which he calls his “happy place.”
In addition to occupying a spot on Smart Manufacturing magazine’s list of 20 most influential professors in smart manufacturing, Dr. Ramy Harik has won several championships and awards for his contributions to his expansive domains of expertise.
