Biography

Tony Shi is an Assistant Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering and a joint Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His research focuses on dynamical systems modeling and control for manufacturing and engineered systems, with emphasis on trajectory-based computational bifurcation and stability analysis and structure-based control and optimization.

His recent research has contributed to advances in machine tool dynamics and vibration theory for machining and additive friction stir deposition. By integrating first-principles modeling, scientific computing, and physics-based machine learning, his research seeks to advance machine–tool–process–materials convergence to address critical manufacturing and supply chain challenges for a sustainable future, with broad applications across aerospace, automotive, and industrial and energy systems.

Dr. Shi has authored 38 peer-reviewed publications and given over 20 technical presentations, including a keynote presentation at the 2025 Mid-Year Industry Advisory Board Meeting of the NSF IUCRC Manufacturing & Materials Jointing Innovation Center. He is a core faculty member of the NSF Engineering Research Center HAMMER – Hybrid Autonomous Manufacturing, Moving from Evolution to Revolution. Dr. Shi’s research has been supported by NSF, DOE-Oak Ridge National Laboratory, DoD-Southeastern Advanced Machine Tools Network and AI Tennessee Initiative.

Education

• PhD, Management Science and Engineering, Peking University, 2017
• BS, Pure and Applied Mathematics, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), 2011

Courses Taught

• Manufacturing – Systems Modeling and Analysis (newly developed)
• Statistical Learning for Complex Systems (newly developed)
• Design of Experiments for Engineering Managers
• Statistical Learning for Complex Systems

Professional Service

• Faculty Judge, UTK Perfect Pitch Competition, NSF ERC-HAMMER, Knoxville, TN, July  2026.
• Associate Editor, Operations Research Forum, 2023-present
• Associate Editor, Energy Systems, 2023-present
• Associate Editor, IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering, 2023-present
• DOE, Office of Science, Panelist (Advanced Scientific Computing Research
• NSF, Panelist (SBIR, Advanced Manufacturing), 2021, 2024, 2025, 2026
• Faculty Judge, UTK Perfect Pitch Competition, NSF ERC-HAMMER, Knoxville, TN, September 2025.
• Faculty Representative of NSF ERC-HAMMER (1 of 10), 2024 NSF Engineering Research Center Biennial Meeting, Arlington, VA, September 2024.
• Faculty Judge, UTK Perfect Pitch Competition, NSF ERC-HAMMER, Knoxville, TN, July 2024.
• Panelist, Model-informed AI Research Panel, AI Tennessee Initiative Seed Funds Workshop, Knoxville, TN, November 2023.
• Invited Panel Attendee, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan Visit / Panel on “A Transdisciplinary Focus on Artificial Intelligence”, Knoxville, TN, June 20
• Invited Attendee and Panelist, Artificial Intelligence for Robust Engineering & Science (AIRES 4) Workshop, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN, April 2023.
• Invited Attendee and Panelist, AI Tennessee Initiative Strategic Visioning Workshop, Knoxville, TN, April 2023.
• Session Co-Chair, NSF ERC-HAMMER Session, 52nd North American Manufacturing Research Conference (NAMRC 52), Knoxville, TN, June 2024.
• Program Committee Member, World Congress on Global Optimization (WCGO 2023), Athens, Greece, July 2023.
• Session Chair, Special Session on Recent Advances in Theory and Applications of Simulation-Based Optimization, 2022 IEEE 18th International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), Mexico City, Mexico, August 2022.
• Program Committee Member, World Congress on Global Optimization (WCGO 2021), Athens, Greece, July 2021.
• Organizer, Workshop on Data Analytical Approach for Large-Scale Optimization, 13th IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering, Xi’an, China, August 2017.

Awards and Honors

• Second Place, Syngenta Crop Challenge in Analytics, INFORMS, 2017.
• Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Award, Peking University, 2017.
• Chancellor’s Scholarship, Peking University, 2014 – 2016.
• Outstanding Graduate Award, Government of Beijing, 2017.
• National Scholarship for Graduate, Government of China, 2016.