Raul Fernandez is the Process Automation Program Manager of the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center (TMAC). TMAC is an affiliate of the US Department of Commerce’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). The organization works with manufacturers to improve their competitiveness, productivity and profitability.
Raul’s primary role is the acquisition, management, and performance of industrial research contracts, both with direct company sponsorship as well as through state and federal research funding agencies. He has been Principal / Co-Principal Investigator in over 30 projects totaling 3 million dollars in research expenditures; this portfolio spans across several industry clusters including defense (Lockheed Martin, Honeywell Space Systems Division), electronics (Texas Instruments, Nokia Mobile Phones), Fortune 500 manufacturing (Eastman Kodak, General Motors, Robert Bosch), and photovoltaic manufacturing (BP Solar, Spire, Solar Cells Inc.). During his long-term affiliation with the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center, Raul has secured and executed multiple industrial contracts focused on the deployment of cost-effective factory automation for the small manufacturers in the North Texas area.
Raul also serves as Adjunct Lecturer for UT Arlington’s Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department in the area of dynamic systems and control, and pursues research interests in design & manufacturing (flexible assembly, automation, surgical devices and robotics), and fluid power, where he has conducted advanced graduate work in high-ordered compressible fluid modeling, dynamic simulation, and helium fluid power systems.
Raul holds degrees Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (B.S., 1989) and The University of Texas at Arlington (M.S., 1994 and Ph.D., 2003). He has been a member of UTA's Automation & Robotics Research Institute full-time research staff since 1995 and his past professional experience includes four years as a part-time computer programmer in Virginia Tech and five years with the General Motors Corporation in manufacturing, engine drive testing and field vehicle instrumentation.
Contact:
fernande@arri.uta.edu |
