Christopher Adams

Christopher Adams joined Carnegie Mellon University in June of 2025 as the operations director of the Manufacturing Futures Institute at Mill 19. He will be leading the operations and management of the Mill 19 facility as well as convening and working with CMU faculty, staff, and students across departments and colleges to ensure Mill 19 operations are aligned with MFI strategic directions and are meeting stakeholder needs. He previously worked at the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute (2019-2025) in project manager and operations manager roles, working closely with partners from industry and academia to push the boundaries of robotics across multiple sectors, including aerospace, automotive, energy, and textiles. Additionally, he supported the ARM Institute’s Robotics Manufacturing Hub to help accelerate the adoption of robotics and automation for small-and-medium-manufactures in southwestern PA.

Adams has over ten years of industry experience in field service, project management, operations, and research and design at Siemens Energy. In his field service engineering role, he traveled across North America, South America, and Australia to perform inspections and repairs on large turbine-generators. As a project engineer, he oversaw the execution of multi-million-dollar service contracts for power generation customers. In his development project engineer role, his team pioneered the use of robotics, additive manufacturing, and laser ablation for field service engineering applications. As part of an effort at Siemens Energy to improve defect detection of generator stator insulation, Adams helped develop a novel solution, which resulted in US Patent No 9658192: “Insulation Defect Detection of High Voltage Stator Core.”

He also led the co-op program at Siemens Energy’s Pittsburgh Service Center, where he helped foster the professional development of over 20 students during their undergraduate studies and provided guidance for job placement upon graduation.

Adams received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from The Pennsylvania State University.