Ed Kusa is a student in the BS Industrial & Systems Engineering program, an undergraduate researcher interested in advanced manufacturing, and plans on pursuing a master’s degree in engineering upon graduation. He served 6 years in the US Navy as a nuclear engineering laboratory technician aboard submarines, specializing in nuclear chemistry and mechanical reactor plant operations. He has over 10 years of experience with CAD and polymer 3D printing, and wants to help bring metal additive manufacturing capabilities to the Navy’s operational warships.

Alex Hamrick is a student studying toward a BS in Mechanical Engineering, a subteam junior lead for Pack Motorsports Baja SAE, and plans on working in aerospace or manufacturing after graduation and a potential graduate degree. He has several years of CAD and project experience and enjoys tackling new design challenges whenever possible. He’s recently acquired skills in manual machining and hopes to over the next few years further elevate his fabrication expertise and experience.

Kwame Dankwa is an undergraduate working towards his BS in Aerospace Engineering, while also a member of the High Powered rocketry club, and AIAA club, he plans to continue to use the skills he learns at the end of his long education to work on manufacturing projects. Throughout his collegiate experience he’s gained skills in solidworks as well as a myriad of microsoft office programs such as Excel, Word, and powerpoint all in hopes to overcome any form of challenges that may arise in the future. While working as part of this research team he’s discovering new skills in software like fusion to create CAD models and Bambulab to make 3d prints. He hopes to continue to grow in the use of these new softwares and gain new and meaningful experiences to further help this research as well as himself.

Dylan Peverall is a PhD student studying the detection and prediction of defects in electron beam powder bed fusion additive manufacturing using electron emission detection and processing. He is also actively working on the Backscattered Electron Tomography Chamber, a miniaturized electron beam printer capable of being deployed on synchrotron beamlines for diffraction and radiography experiments involving the melting of metal powder samples. He specializes in electron beam operation, vacuum chamber design, and image processing and analysis.

Mackenzie E.J. Perry is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at NC State University. She earned her Ph.D. from Virginia Tech as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, conducting doctoral research as a guest researcher at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory on solid-state metal additive manufacturing. She previously served as a Materials Engineer and later a Workforce Development Coordinator at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division, where she led defense-relevant research initiatives and cross-organization coordination efforts. At NC State, her work focuses on strengthening research ecosystems through workforce development initiatives such as the METAL (Metallurgical Engineering Trades Apprenticeships & Learning) program and contributions to the Defense and Security Institute, with an emphasis on supporting collaboration across academia and government.

Alexandria Epley is an undergraduate pursuing a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.S. in philosophy. She currently serves as the mechanical lead for the AquaPack Robotics Underwater Robotics Club, and plans to pursue a graduate degree in additive manufacturing or robotics after graduation. She has prior experience with gas atomization and powder bed fusion additive manufacturing, and has been using and teaching CAD programs for the last five years. She is particularly interested in design and simulation, and hopes to apply the manufacturing experience she has gained as a member of the METAL team to improve the manufacturability of her designs.