Ali K. Kamrani, Ph.D.

Dr. Ali K. Kamrani is currently an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at University of Houston and the department’s Ph.D. Program Coordinator and Advisor. He is the founder and the director of Free Form Fabrication and Rapid Prototyping (FFF&RP) Laboratory. He is also developing the Design and Manufacturing Automation (D&MA) Laboratory in the College of Engineering. He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering, M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering, M.Eng. in Computer Science and Engineering Mathematics and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering, all from the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky. Prior joining the University of Houston, he held the position of Associate Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Adjunct Professor Faculty with Wayne State University and Faculty for Program in Manufacturing (PIM), The University of Michigan Ann Arbor Interdisciplinary program. He is the founder and previous coordinator of the Rapid Prototyping Laboratory at the College of Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan-Dearborn.

As director of FFF&RP and D&MA laboratories, Professor Kamrani coordinates strategic planning and identification of necessary funds and resources for both national and international collaborations between the University of Houston and other universities, government and industrial partners, as well as developing new research initiatives at the University of Houston.

As a researcher and educator, Professor Kamrani specializes in Systems Engineering, Concurrent Engineering, Modularity, Design for Manufacturing, Free Form Fabrications, Robotics, Automation and Computer Simulations. During his 14 years in academia he has developed 10 and taught 22 different courses in industrial engineering, manufacturing systems engineering and engineering management. Dr. Kamrani also has 10 years of experience with industries as a research fellow, sabbatical, faculty internships and consulting. He has conducted research collaborations with industrial and governmental organizations (NSF, NASA, Ford, GM, DCX, TRW, SME, etc.). Working with Advanced Manufacturing Engineering at Daimler-Chrysler Corporations, Dr. Kamrani developed a simulation-based algorithm for identifying and mitigating risks associated with product variety and its impact on manufacturing complexity. Dr. Kamrani also conducted research in systems engineering, product decomposition and architecture modeling, process modeling and knowledge-based engineering at Ford Motor Company. These projects were developed at the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Development Center. As part of Dr. Kamrani’s project with the Truck Division at General Motors Corporation, he benchmarked systems engineering methodologies for product development and the application of rapid periodic prototyping and analytical simulation tools for design and gap analysis. This allows for a learning-based approach to design and development rather than the traditional resource-based approach. As a faculty fellow at Johnson Space Center, NASA, Dr. Kamrani is assisting the AIM team in developing the systems engineering strategy to integrate and test the Human Support Technology with the Advanced Life Support Systems for travel beyond the low earth orbit.

Dr Kamrani has published 4 edited and 2 authored books. He is currently writing a book on Intelligent Design: An Information-Based Approach and editing a Handbook on Rapid Prototyping. He is an author/co-author of over 130 technical publications and over 15 invited research presentations worldwide. He is the member of Editorial Board member for International Journal in Industrial Engineering and Associate Editor for International Journal of Intelligent Automation and Soft Computing. He is a senior member of IIE, SME, CASA, RI, RPI, ASEE and Alpha-Pi-Mu, the Industrial Engineering honor society. He received the University of Michigan-Dearborn Chancellor’s award for external funding in 1995 and 2000.