Dr. Gökan May is Professor of Advanced Manufacturing at the University of North Florida, where he contributes his expertise in data-driven innovation for advanced and sustainable manufacturing. He is also an Editorial Board Member of the World Manufacturing Forum and a member of the World Economic Forum's Expert Network.

Dr. May recently collaborated with Microsoft, Purdue University, and West Virginia University to establish the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Center under the US Department of Energy and CESMII. He has published over 50 journal papers and conference proceedings, with a total of approximately 2000 citations to date.

In addition to his academic contributions, Dr. May co-authored the annual World Manufacturing Forum report, a globally recognized benchmark for manufacturing recommendations, for five consecutive years from 2018-2022. Dr. May earned his PhD in Industrial Engineering from Politecnico di Milano in 2014 with Summa Cum Laude distinction, his MS degree in 2010 from the same institution with Highest Honors, and his BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University where he ranked 1st among 210 graduates of 2007 (Top 1% among last 10 years' graduates). During 2013, he worked as a Researcher at Penn State in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.

Before joining the University of North Florida, Dr. May was involved in several EU-Funded Projects (H2020 & FP7) and led the coordination of funded research projects such as H2020 QU4LITY, H2020 BOOST4.0, H2020 Z-BRE4K, H2020 Z-Fact0r, FP7 MAN-MADE, FP7 PLANTCockpit, and FP7 EMC2 Eco-Factory, as a project coordinator at Politecnico di Milano (2010-2015) and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (2015-2019). He has secured more than 3.5 Million Euros funding ébetween 2010 and 2019.

Dr. May has an extensive network of industrial and academic partners in the field of data-driven engineering for advanced manufacturing, contributing his expertise in various areas, including manufacturing strategies, zero-defect manufacturing, and intelligent maintenance, which are growing trends in Industry 4.0. His research also focuses on industrial energy efficiency towards a sustainable future.