Dr. Johnson Samuel has been serving as a faculty in the mechanical, aerospace and nuclear engineering department of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), since the Spring of 2011. As director of the Nano/Micro-scale Manufacturing and Material Design Lab (NanoM3 Design Lab) at Rensselaer, he leads research and education efforts in the areas of advanced manufacturing and material design. His research has attracted funding from multiple agencies including the National Science Foundation, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Defense Health Program, Army Research Lab, DARPA and The Boeing Company. He is the recipient of the U.S. National Science Foundation CAREER award for his proposal titled “Microstructure-specific machining strategies for bone” (2014), The Outstanding Young Alumni Award, MechSe Dept. Univ. of Illinois- Urbana  Champaign (2016), Rensselaer School of Engineering Research Excellence Award (2016), and the World Economic Forum Young Scientist Cohort (2016)
Besides research, Dr.Samuel is also passionate about training and developing the next generation of manufacturing engineers in the US. He was awarded the Rensselaer Class of 1951 Outstanding Teaching Award (2014) and the School Of Engineering Education Innovation Award (2015) in recognition of his manufacturing education efforts at Rensselaer.