ABOUT
Aaron
Stebner
Professor
Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. Char in Manufacturing
James R and Sarah R Borders Faculty Fellow, Executive Director - Professional Master’s in Manufacturing Leadership, Associate Director - Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute
aaron.stebner@gatech.edu
(404) 894-5167
Love 232

Aaron P. Stebner is the Eugence C. Gwaltney Jr. Chair in Manufacturing, a James R. and Sarah R. Border Faculty Fellow, and Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He also serves as Associate Director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) leading the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility and ask the Executive Director of Georgia Tech's Professional Master's in Manufacturing Leadership program. 

He has founded multiple technology based economic development coalitions and research consortia including Georgia Artificial Intelligence Manufacturing (Georgia AIM), the Georgia Tech Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium, and the Alliance for the Development of Additive Processing Technologies (ADAPT). He also served as the Deputy Editor for the journal Additive Manufacturing. 

Previously, he was the Rowlinson Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at the Colorado School of Mines (2013 – 2020), a postdoctoral scholar at the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of the California Institute of Technology (2012 – 2013), a Lecturer in the Segal Design Institute at Northwestern University (2009 – 2012), a Research Scientist at Telezygology Inc. (2008-2009), a Research Fellow at the NASA Glenn Research Center (2006 – 2008), and a Mechanical Engineer at the Electric Device Corporation in Canfield, OH (1995 – 2000).

Professor Stebner’s research is cross-disciplinary work that bridges mechanical engineering, materials science, and data science such as integrating data informatics and machine learning to accelerate discovery, development, and optimization of additive manufacturing technologies and developing new characterization and data analysis capabilities for in situ multi-scale studies of the mechanics and manufacturing of materials. It also incorporates the latest fundamental scientific discoveries into practical, usable tools for innovating engineering applications for companies and the government.”

Students:
Michael Rademacher
Ehiremen Asemewanlen
Keith Horne
Abigail Hefferan
Selected publications
  • S Mohan, H Holberton, AP Stebner, DC Hofmann, Assessing the Powder Bed Fusion–Laser Beam Potential of Glass‐Forming Alloys Using Single and Multitrack Laser Glazing Experiments, Advanced Engineering Materials 27 (9), 2402214, 2025
  • NJ Lies, ME Carroll, AP Stebner, Development of a drop-casting fixture to improve microstructure repeatability and data pedigree of arc cast alloy research, International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials, 107386, 2025
  • ST Goring, MB Pagan, AP Stebner, Development of spectral reflectometry characterization toward automation of polishing during sample preparation, Materials Characterization, 115726, 2025
  • JS Weeks, AP Stebner, Efficient Multiscale Simulations of Incremental Sheet Forming Using Machine Learning Surrogate Models for Crystal Plasticity, Integrating Materials and Manufacturing Innovation, 1-20, 2025
  • T Chattopadhyay, F Ceschin, ME Garza, D Zyunkin, A Chhotaray, ..., One Video to Steal Them All: 3D-Printing IP Theft through Optical Side-Channels, Proceedings of the 2025 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications …, 2025
  • Johnson, N.S., Vulimiri, P.S., To, A.C., Zhang, X., Brice, C.A., Kappes, B.B., Stebner, A.P. “Invited Review: Machine Learning for Materials Developments in Metals Additive Manufacturing” https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.05235
  • Hou, H., Simsek, E., Ma, T., Johnson, N.S.,  Qian, S., Cissé, C., Stasak, D., Al Hasan, N., Zhou, L., Hwang, Y., Radermacher, R., Levitas, V.I., Kramer, M.J., Asle Zaeem, M., Stebner, A.P., Ott, R.T., Cui, J., Takeuchi, I. “Fatigue-Resistant High-Performance Elastocaloric Materials Made by Additive Manufacturing” 2019, Science, 366:1116–1121, 10.1126/science.aax7616.
  • Gallmeyer, T.G., Moorthy, S., Kappes, B.B., Mills, M.J., Amin-Ahmadi, B., Stebner, A.P. “Knowledge of Process-Structure-Property Relationships to Engineer Better Heat Treatments for Laser Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufactured Inconel 718,” 2020, Additive Manufacturing, 31:100977, 10.1016/j.addma.2019.100977.
  • Hommer, G.M., Park, J.-S., Brunson, Z.D., Dahal, J., Kenesei, P., Mashayekhi, A., Almer, J.D., Vignes, J., Lemmer, S.R., Clausen, B., Brown, D.W., Stebner, A.P. “A Planar Biaxial Experiment Platform for In Situ High-Energy Diffraction Studies,” 2019, Experimental Mechanics, 59:749–774, 10.1007/s11340-019-00509-z .
  • Bucsek, A.N., Pagan, D.C., Casalena, L., Chumlyakov, Y., Mills, M.J., Stebner, A.P. “Ferroelastic Twin Reorientation Mechanisms in Shape Memory Alloys Elucidated with 3D X-ray Microscopy,” 2019, Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 124:897–928, 10.1016/j.jmps.2018.12.003.
  • Cousins, D.S., Suzuki, Y., Murray, R.E., Samaniuk, J.R., Stebner, A.P. “Recycling Glass Fiber Thermoplastic Composites from Wind Turbine Blades,” 2019, Journal of Cleaner Production, 209:1252–1263, 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.286.
Education
  • Postdoctoral Scholar, Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, California Institute of Technology
  • Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. Mechanical Engineering Ph.D., 2012
  • Graduate Certificate in Management, Kellogg School of Management
  • The University of Akron, Akron, OH. Mechanical Engineering  M.S., 2008
  • The University of Akron, Akron, OH. Mechanical Engineering B.S., 2005
Awards
  • 2026 Georgia Tech Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Impact Award for Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM)
  • 2025 – ASM International Silver Medal (outstanding achievements in first 10-20 years of career) “For outstanding leadership in education, research, and economic development at the intersection of materials, mechanics, manufacturing, and artificial intelligence.”
  • 2023 Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Research Award
    And can change “Associate Editor” to “Deputy Editor” for Additive Manufacturing
  • 2020 Associate Editor, Additive Manufacturing
  • 2019 Japan Society for the Preservation of Science (JSPS) Visiting Professor Fellowship
  • 2017 Researcher of the Year, Colorado School of Mines
  • 2015 NSF CAREER Award, Mechanics of Materials and Structures
  • 2014 – 2017 International Advisory Committee Chair, International Conference on Martensitic Transformations (ICOMAT)
  • 2013 – 2015 President, ASM International Organization on Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies (SMST)
  • 2011 Management for Scientists and Engineers Graduate Scholarship, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University https://stebnerlab.mines.edu
  • 2006 – 2008 NASA Graduate Student Researcher Program Fellow
Research Interests

Professor Stebner’s research focuses on structural and functional materials, incorporating experimental, computational, and artificial intelligence approaches to study heterogeneous and multifunctional materials. His work aims to understand processing, deformation, failure, and dynamic behavior across multiple length scales, with applications to the design and optimization of advanced structural and functional materials. This research involves collaborative efforts bridging mechanics, materials science, and engineering innovation.

Mechanics, Manufacturing, Machine Learning, Materials: additive manufacturing, micromechanics, alloys, composites, process-structure-property relationships, X-ray diffraction and tomography, neutron diffraction, data informatics, continuum thermodynamics