SME Announces 2021 Award of Merit Honorees

SME, a professional association committed to advancing manufacturing and developing a skilled workforce, has announced that Hwa-Soo Lee, PhD, LSME, CMfgE, and Matthew Clegg are its 2021 SME Award of Merit recipients. Lee is a professor specializing in manufacturing at Nihon University in Tokyo. Clegg is a marine equipment designer for Manson Construction Co. in Seattle.

Lee was selected for his contributions to SME Japan Chapter 180, where he functions as the certification officer. His ongoing efforts have led to more than 1,700 applicants successfully achieving the organization’s Certified Manufacturing Engineer (CMfgE) and Certified Manufacturing Technologist (CMfgT) designations between 1994 and 2020. During his career, he has contributed extensively to research on machine tool vibration. He also has invested significantly in mentoring students and emerging engineers in the manufacturing industry.

Clegg is being recognized for his achievements as the chair of SME Seattle Chapter 39. While in the position, he established a goal for the chapter to regain its platinum chapter status, which requires success in categories of effective communication, interaction with local manufacturing, leadership development and development of best practices. He worked with local colleges to strengthen their engineering programs, while supporting five SME student chapters and growing his professional SME chapter into one of the largest in the U.S.

“Hwa-Soo and Matt are great engineers and have been impressive leaders in the profession, in their communities and are worthy of this special recognition,” said Michael D. Packer, FSME, 2021 SME president. “They have been valued members of SME for 34 and seven years, respectively. Their contributions have been stellar and bring immense honor to our organization.”