Narendra Dahotre, interim vice president of research and innovation and a distinguished professor with the University of North Texas College of Engineering, recently received the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Eli Whitney Productivity Award for lifetime achievement in the area of manufacturing engineering.

“Receiving such recognition from the international manufacturing community was a moment of great pride for me,” said Dahotre. “I’ve spent my entire career developing laser-based surface engineering for advanced materials. You could say that I was using laser technology before laser technology was cool.”

The Eli Whitney Productivity Award specifically recognizes an individual for distinguished accomplishments in improving capability within the broad concept of orderly production. For more than 80 years, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers has been recognizing individuals from industry and academia for their contributions in manufacturing technologies.

Dahotre has been continuously working in the field of laser processing for more than 25 years.