Brandon obtained his bachelor’s and doctorate degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Pennsylvania State University. His doctoral thesis focused on numerical modeling of fusion welding processes which has proved very useful to his endeavors in the development and qualification of laser metal additive manufacturing processes. Dr. Ribic joined NCDMM in October 2019 as the America Makes Technology Director. Driven by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), America Makes is the nation’s leading public-private partnership for additive manufacturing (AM) technology and education and the first of nine Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (MIIs) established and managed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). He is responsible for the curation of the Institute’s AM Technology Roadmap as well as leading America Makes’ efforts in the Additive Manufacturing Standardization Collaborative with ANSI. Prior to NCDMM, Brandon was a joining processes and additive manufacturing materials specialist at Rolls-Royce Corporation. He led the Materials Technology Center efforts in AM process modeling and in-situ process monitoring. His research focused on welding and AM processes for various titanium and nickel superalloy gas turbine engine components. One of his most notable achievements is successfully developing, qualifying, and productionizing (TRL 7) the first ever CMSX-4 AM repair for Rolls-Royce.