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People Howard A. Kuhn, P.E.

Adjunct Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Education

PhD, Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie-Mellon University, 1966
MS, Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie-Mellon University, 1963
BS, Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie-Mellon University, 1962

Professional Interests

Dr. Kuhn is R&D Director of The Ex One Company, with responsibility for development and implementation of rapid manufacturing and rapid tooling technologies.

He was Vice President and Chief Technical Officer at Scienda, LLC from June, 2000 to October, 2002, implementing modern CAD/CAM/CAE technologies for the design and automated manufacture of light gage steel structures and composite panels for residential and commercial construction.

Dr. Kuhn was co-founder of Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) [originally, Metalworking Technology Incorporated, a subsidiary of the University of Pittsburgh Trust], an independent non-profit applied research and development firm headquartered in Johnstown, PA.  Serving as Vice President and Chief Technical Officer (1988 – 2000), Dr. Kuhn had cognizance over all technical activities and was responsible for quality in technical performance, educational partnerships, and strategic technical planning.  Specializing in advanced technology implementation in manufacturing, environmental design, and electronic commerce for major government clients and private industry, CTC grew to over 1500 employees with offices around the world.  A major technical accomplishment of this activity was the advancement of concurrent engineering and process simulation as everyday tools in the government’s acquisition process.  While at CTC, and as a member of the Adjunct Faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Kuhn established and taught the first distance-learning courses between multiple sites for the University’s M.S. Program in Manufacturing Systems Engineering.  In addition, he wrote the Manufacturing Certification Program Curriculum currently in use throughout the North Carolina Community College System.

Dr. Kuhn was co-founder of Deformation Control Technology (DCT), a consulting firm serving the metalworking industry, Cleveland, OH and Pittsburgh, PA.  As the Technical Director at DCT (1980 – 1987), he was responsible for business development and directing all technical activities, including project definition and management, analysis, design, materials testing, and reporting to clients.

At Drexel University (1966 – 1974) and the University of Pittsburgh (1975 – 1987), with joint appointments in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Dr. Kuhn developed undergraduate and graduate courses in deformation processing, powder metallurgy, engineering design, failure analysis, and mechanical metallurgy.  He also instituted materials processing laboratories for undergraduate instruction and graduate research.  In addition, Dr. Kuhn established research programs in deformation processing, powder metallurgy, computer-aided design and expert systems under industrial and government funding. These projects resulted in twenty-one Ph.D. thesis dissertations and twenty-two M.S. thesis dissertations.  Significant results of this research included the development of a fracture criterion for application to industrial metalworking operations, and the seminal papers on deformation processing of powder materials, including criteria for plasticity and fracture, as well as process design principles.  This technology was then transferred to industrial practice of the powder forging process through DCT.  Today, powder forging is 8% of the $5 billion worldwide powder metallurgy market.

At the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Kuhn also served as Director of the Freshman Engineering Program (1979 – 1983, 1985 – 87) with responsibility for all academic affairs of entering students. In this capacity, he developed and taught a series of Freshman-level courses that provided an introduction to engineering analysis, design, and synthesis through problem solving experiences.  He also established the University’s first microcomputer center and developed computer graphics instruction in the introductory engineering courses.  For these efforts, Dr. Kuhn became the first recipient of the University of Pittsburgh Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award (1984).

Selected Publications

H. A. Kuhn and B. L. Ferguson, Powder Forging, Metal Powder Industries Federation, Princeton, NJ (1990)

H. A. Kuhn and R. S. Green, “Advanced Joining Technology Meets Navy, Industry Needs,” Welding Journal, Vol. 70, No.10, pp. 27-30 (1991)

D. Zhao, J. P. Bandstra, and H. A. Kuhn, “A New Fracture Criterion for Fracture Prediction in Metalworking Processes,” Concurrent Engineering Approach to Materials Processing, S. N. Dwivedi, A. J. Paul, and F. R, Dax, Eds., TMS, pp. 107-109 (1992)

C. D. Orego, H. D. Callihan, G. K. Sigworth, H. A. Kuhn, “A Vision of Computer-Aided Casting in the Year 2000,” Modern Casting, October, 1993, pp. 20-23

R. A. Stoehr, J. H. Manley and H. A. Kuhn, “Collaboration Between Geographically Separated Project Team Members in the Distance Learning Environment,” Manufacturing Education for the 21st Century, Vol. III, Preparing World Class Manufacturing Professionals, SME, pp. 407-409 (1996)

H. A. Kuhn, “Advances in Net Shape Manufacturing in the U. S.,” [Keynote Address] Proceedings, Near Net Shape ‘97 (NNS ‘97) International Conference, Bremen, Germany (1997)

H. A. Kuhn, “New and Emerging Technologies for the 21st Century,” [Keynote Address] Proceedings, Touchstone Technology Conference, Tucson, AZ, Feb. 7, 2000.

M. Pandheeradi, S. P. Vaze, D. W. Yuan, and H. A. Kuhn, “Modeling and Experimental Validation of Superconductor Tape Rolling,” Trans. ASME, J. Manufacturing Science and Engineering, Vol. 123, pp. 665-673 (2001)

Jianxin Liu and H. A. Kuhn, “Supersolidus Liquid Phase Sintering of Tool Steel for Rapid Tooling,” 6th Global Innovations Proceedings, Eds. T.R. Bieler, J.E. Carsley, H.L. Fraser, J.W. Sears, J.E. Smugeresky, TMS, Warrendale, PA, pp. 27 - 32 (2005)

Anita Hancox, H. A. Kuhn, “3DPrinting for the Dental Industry,” Proceedings, PM2TECH 2005,  MPIF, Princeton, NJ (2006)

Jianxin Liu and H. A. Kuhn, “An Innovative Approach to Liquid Phase Sintering of Aluminum and Aluminum Alloys,” Proceedings, 2006 World Congress on Powder Metallurgy, Busan, Korea (2006)

H. A. Kuhn, “A Technical History of Powder Forging – Lessons Learned for Technology Transfer,” Proceedings, 2006 World Congress on Powder Metallurgy, Busan, Korea (2006)

H. A. Kuhn, “Powder Metallurgy of Rapid Manufacturing Processes,” [Keynote Address], Proceedings, 2006 World Congress on Powder Metallurgy, Busan, Korea (2006)

faculty

The Department of Mechanical Engineering has 16 full time, 6 adjuct, and 5 emeritus faculty members