Joseph Beaman

Joseph J. Beaman is a Professor holding the Cockrell Family Dean's Chair in Engineering Excellence in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his B.S.M.E. with high honors from The University of Texas at Austin in 1972 and his Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the area of nonlinear control. Beaman joined the University of Texas at Austin faculty in 1979 and served as Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering from 2000 to 2011. Licensed as a Professional Engineer in the State of Texas, his career encompasses manufacturing and control systems. He also held the Earnest F. Gloyna Regents Chair in Engineering.

Beaman pioneered Solid Freeform Fabrication, a manufacturing technology also known as additive manufacturing, initiating research in 1985 as the first academic in the field. He coined the term Solid Freeform Fabrication in 1987 and developed Selective Laser Sintering, one of its most successful approaches, in his laboratory in 1986 with graduate student Carl Deckard. A founder of DTM Corporation, which commercialized Selective Laser Sintering prior to its merger with 3D Systems, Beaman collaborated on advancements in materials, laser scanning techniques, thermal control, mold making, direct metal fabrication, and biomedical applications. He chaired the Japanese Technology Evaluation Center Panel on Rapid Prototyping in Japan and Europe in 1996 and the World Technology Evaluation Center panel on Additive/Subtractive Manufacturing in 2003. His awards include the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1984, UT Austin Faculty Excellence Award, DuPont Young Faculty Award, two Engineering Foundation Awards in 1984 and 1988, Best Paper Awards from the Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control, Journal of Rapid Prototyping in 1996, and Vacuum Metallurgy Conference in 2001, Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Honorary Member of ASME in 2023, University of Texas at Austin Inventor of the Year in 2015, election to the National Academy of Engineering, and Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Key publications comprise 'Dimensional stability during post-processing of selective laser sintered ceramic preforms' (2007, Virtual and Physical Prototyping), 'Rapid Manufacturing of Silicon Carbide Composites' (2005, Rapid Prototyping Journal), 'Modeling Water Transport and Swelling in Polymer Electrolyte Membranes' (2010, Journal of The Electrochemical Society), and 'Electroslag remelting process using unscented kalman filter' (2010, Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control).

Professional Email: jbeaman@mail.utexas.edu