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Dr. Bert Bras is a Professor at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology since September 1992. His research focus is on sustainable design and manufacturing, including design for recycling and remanufacture, bio-inspired design, and life-cycle analysis. His primary research question is how to reduce the environmental impact of companies while increasing their competitiveness, i.e., how to promote sustainable development. He has authored and co-authored over 140 publications. He has developed and taught undergraduate courses related to Environmentally Conscious Design & Manufacturing since 1993. He was named the 1996 Engineer of the Year in Education by the Georgia Society of Professional Engineers, received a Society of Automotive Engineers’ Ralph R. Teetor Award in 1999, and the 2007 Georgia Tech Outstanding Interdisciplinary Activities Award. In 1999-2000, he was part of a group of experts charged by the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy through the WTEC - World Technology Evaluation Center with evaluating the state-of-the-art in environmentally benign manufacturing. He visited companies, universities, and governmental institutions in Europe, Japan and the US. From 2001 to 2004, he served as the Director of Georgia Tech’s Institute for Sustainable Technology and Development.

Dr. Bras has Master of Science (“Ingenieur”) degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Twente (The Netherlands), a PhD in Operations Research from the University of Houston. Prior to his PhD, he also worked at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN).