Steve Skerlos is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Civil and Environmental Engineering. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering (2000) and his B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering with highest honors (1994), both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has been a faculty member at the University of Michigan since 2000.
Professor Skerlos is known as a scholar in the field of sustainable design focusing on applications of technology in product design, manufacturing, and water reuse. Professor Skerlos is Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Technology Officer of Fusion Coolant Systems, a startup developing gas-based coolants and lubricants for manufacturing, and is known as a serial entrepreneur having successfully started two companies based on his laboratory research.
Professor Skerlos is the Director of Sustainability Education Programs in the College of Engineering, Director of the Program in Sustainable Engineering, and is Co-Director of the Center for Socially Engaged Design. He serves on the advisory boards for the UM Center for Research on Learning and Teaching and the Graham Sustainability Institute. He served as course leader for the Capstone Design Course in mechanical engineering from 2002-2009, as director of the graduate program in mechanical engineering from 2009-2012, and was the faculty advisor to BLUElab 2002-2016.
He teaches Sustainability Engineering Principles to undergraduate students, and Sustainable Design of Technology Systems to graduate students. Professor Skerlos has overseen several dozen student projects pertaining to technology design for communities in low-resource settings, including several winners of the EPA People, Prosperity, and Planet Challenge.
In addition to Professor Skerlos’ expertise topics, he consults on Business Development, Design Process, Design Skills, Micro-Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Water Systems and Technology System Design.
Interested in Professor Skerlos’ research? Learn more on the Engineering and Sustainable Technologies Laboratory (EASTLAB) website.
Professor Skerlos can be reached via email at: skerlos@umich.edu.