The University of Tennessee Research Foundation is honored to partner with Uday Vaidya, a prolific researcher, industry leader, and advisor.
He is priceless,” said UTRF President Maha Krishnamurthy. “One of our most prolific innovators. His contributions towards his students’ success, along with impactful contributions in the field of advanced composites, make him invaluable to UTRF and the UT community.”
Vaidya is the Governor’s Chair of Advanced Composites Manufacturing for UT Knoxville and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He is also a professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering and the Chief Technology Officer for the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI).
Over his career, he has been recognized for numerous awards and achievements, including a Society for Plastics Engineers (SPE) 2023 Fellow of Society Award, SPE Composites Division’s 2016 Composites Person of the Year award, and a 2023 Fellow for the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering.
Before arriving in Knoxville, Vaidya held faculty positions at Auburn University, Tuskegee University, North Dakota State University, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He spent two years at the prestigious National Aerospace Laboratories in Bengaluru, India. During his 15 years at UAB, he began to transition from a more traditional academic research approach to an industry-oriented mindset.
There, I developed my passion for bridging the gap between fundamental and applied,” said Vaidya. “Over the last 20-plus years, I’ve been involved in developing anywhere from 25-30 products across a diverse range of sectors—with composites being the central theme. That has been rewarding because we’re using our knowledge in a way that will end up being used by people in the community.”
Since joining the university, Vaidya has worked with UTRF to secure five patents, 10 pending patent applications and over 40 invention disclosures, either as a researcher or through his joint appointments. He has “nothing but good things to say about UTRF” because the team has been incredibly supportive since day one.
UTRF has been a central outlet for all the ideas we are coming up with or developing with industry,” said Vaidya. “Their setup is very open to listening to everything you’re doing, and they’re proactive—intellectual property filings, provisional patents, the whole works.”
Vaidya said none of this work would be possible without contributions from his students. One of his primary passions throughout his career has been educating and mentoring young minds.
All our graduates are extremely ready for the workforce when they finish. That means they’re very sought after, a 100% employment rate. There’s no question they’ll get good jobs,” said Vaidya.
Vaidya encourages his students to explore how their work might be beneficial beyond traditional publications.
We can discuss the importance of student entrepreneurship all day, but ultimately, faculty advisors are the ones who encourage students by giving them space in their labs to grow and develop their entrepreneurial skills,” said Krishnamurthy. “This process begins with faculty like Dr. Vaidya being open and encouraging. He has helped seed at least four high-tech companies in the region.”
Three of Vaidya’s graduate students—Hicham Ghossein of Endeavor Composites, Alex Stiles of Vitriform3D, and Ryan Spencer of ThermaMatrix—have gone through or are currently part of the Innovation Crossroads Program at ORNL.
Entrepreneurship is part of the culture because of the region and what it offers,” said Vaidya. “Not many regions have an attractive program like Innovation Crossroads, which has everyone working toward a common goal: To see that the companies set up and succeed in Tennessee.”
Last year, Vaidya surpassed a significant career milestone: Teaching over 10,000 students.
My students have been my most fundamental accomplishment,” he said. “Whether they hated or liked me, I shaped their life somehow—they got something out of it. That is significant for me.”