Dr. Frank Liou, the Michael and Joyce Bytnar Product Innovation and Creativity Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Missouri S&T, has been named a Curators’ Distinguished Professor. 
 
The University of Missouri Board of Curators awards this title to outstanding faculty members with established reputations in their field of study.  
 
Liou joined Missouri S&T’s mechanical engineering faculty in 1987 as an assistant professor after earning a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University, and a bachelor’s degree in naval architecture and marine engineering from National Cheng-Kung University in Taiwan.   
 
In 1993, Liou was promoted to associate professor, and he rose to professor in 1999.  
 
He has served as the founding director of S&T’s manufacturing engineering program since 1999 and as director of the Intelligent Systems Center since 2021. 
 
In 2002, he co-founded Product Innovation and Engineering LLC, or PINE — a member of Missouri S&T’s Center for Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies industrial consortium. 
 
Liou has published hundreds of peer-reviewed articles on manufacturing concepts, as well as a book that serves as a practical guide to rapid prototyping techniques and their engineering uses. 
 
Throughout his career, Liou has received research funding for over 130 externally sponsored projects totaling over $35 million. 
 
He has been recognized in a Stanford University study as among the top 2% most-cited scientists in his field. His research focuses on additive manufacturing, including hybrid additive–subtractive processes, multiscale multiphysics process modeling, digital twins and digital factories. 
 
Liou is a Fellow of both the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). He received the SME Frederick W. Taylor Research Medal in 2020. 
 
For more information about Missouri S&T’s mechanical and aerospace engineering programs, visit mae.mst.edu. 

About Missouri S&T

Missouri University of Science and Technology is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact, according to The Wall Street Journal. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.