Industry 4.0 Forum - April 29

 Mike Anderson is responsible for the development of commercial and technical innovations that arise from strategic alliances with Waymo and Google Cloud. Prior to his current role, he was the Director of Government Services responsible for serving the Department of Defense, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other federal and state government agencies. Prior to beginning work at J. B Hunt in 2018, Mike served 26 years in the Army, retiring at the rank of colonel. He was commissioned in 1992 as an Engineer Officer through the University of Arkansas Army ROTC. During his Army career he served in various command and staff positions including company commander at Fort Riley, Kansas, physics instructor at West Point New York, executive officer to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, International Security Assistance Force Headquarters, Kabul, Afghanistan, and seminar leader at the U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Mike’s last assignment was at the Pentagon where he served as the principal advisor to the senior Department of the Army representative to the Nuclear Weapons Council. Mike holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arkansas, a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla, and a M.A. in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army Command & Staff College. He is also a member of the Arkansas Academy of Mechanical Engineering. Mike and his wife Carla have been married for 31 years and have four adult children (who like their parents before them, all graduated from University of Arkansas) and one grandchild.

Justin Ruths received a B.S. in Physics from Rice University, M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering (Columbia University) and Electrical Engineering (Washington University in Saint Louis), and a Ph.D. in Systems Science and Applied Mathematics from Washington University in Saint Louis.  In 2011, Dr. Ruths joined Singapore University of Technology and Design as a founding faculty member where he served as an assistant professor in Engineering Systems and Design for five years.  As of August 2016 he is an assistant professor with appointments in Mechanical Engineering and Systems Engineering at University of Texas at Dallas. He is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award. His research includes studying the fundamental properties of controlling networks, bilinear systems theory, security of cyber-physical control systems, and solving computational optimal control problems focused on neuroscience and quantum control applications.

Josh Summers, PhD is Department Head for Mechanical Engineering, from UT Dallas Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science







Dhriti P. Stocks oversees corporate partnership and engagement, government grants, and data to build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. Dhriti has spent more than a decade in nonprofit fundraising, overseeing corporate giving, individual membership, and grants and foundation relations for organizations such as the Children’s Medical Center Foundation, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, and Junior Achievement of Dallas. She began her nonprofit career as an AmeriCorps member serving with VolunteerNow. Dhriti has spent her adult life in the Dallas area, following a move from Sydney, Australia, and is a proud graduate of Austin College and the University of Texas at Dallas with her PhD in Public Affairs. She has also earned her CFRE designation and is a graduate of the CCC Leadership Program and the Communities Foundation of Texas Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy. Dhriti enjoys all things outdoors and spends her spare time hiking new trails around the DFW area with her family.


A Waymo Via truck and other autonomous vehicles will be on view at the UTD campus.