UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Soundar Kumara, the Allen E. and Allen M. Pearce Professor of Industrial Engineering at Penn State, has been named to the Society of Manufacturing Engineering (SME) College of Fellows.
Kumara was among eight manufacturing professionals inducted into the 2026 class of fellows. Established in 1986, the SME College of Fellows recognizes members who have made outstanding contributions to the social, technological and educational aspects of the manufacturing profession. The distinction is awarded to individuals with at least 20 years of experience who have demonstrated sustained leadership and significant impact on the manufacturing engineering profession.
“I am truly honored to be recognized as a fellow of SME, an achievement I value greatly," Kumara said. "It is especially rewarding to see the work my group began in the early 1980s — in sensing, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), applications to manufacturing, and networked edge-computing in manufacturing — help shape today’s smart manufacturing research, education and practice. As an academic, engineer and researcher, having the opportunity to make such an impact is a privilege beyond measure.”
At Penn State, Kumara serves as director of the Center for the Applications of Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning to Industry (AIMI) within the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences. His research spans nonlinear real-time sensor analysis, machine learning for process diagnosis and large-scale complex networks. Among his most notable contributions is the co-development of the Label Propagation Algorithm, a widely used machine learning method incorporated into major machine learning software platforms. The work was recognized by Physical Review E as one of just 25 "Landmark Papers" selected from more than 50,000 publications in celebration of the journal's 25th anniversary.
“This accolade is well deserved given his pioneering work in manufacturing process monitoring and diagnosis and, more recently, in AI and machine learning in manufacturing,” said Ling Rothrock, the interim head and professor of the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.
In addition to his research contributions, Kumara has mentored 70 doctoral students and 81 master's degree students throughout his career. He is a fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, the International Academy for Production Engineering, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
His previous honors include the IISE Baker Award, the ASME Computers and Information in Engineering Research Excellence Award and the Pearson Digital Pioneer Award. Kumara also was recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology Madras and an Outstanding Industrial Engineer by Purdue University.
Beyond academia, Kumara has served as a consultant to the Army Science Board and currently serves on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Commission on Artificial Intelligence, helping guide the responsible development and application of artificial intelligence technologies. Kumara has been an SME member since 2021.