Bemnet Molla

Bemnet Molla graduated from Virginia Tech in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. Throughout his undergraduate education, Bemnet took interest in design, materials, and manufacturing with a focus on additive manufacturing. This interest led him to serve multiple intern rotations with Tesla’s Rapid Prototyping and Additive Manufacturing teams. Through this experience, Bemnet was able to grow his design skills and advanced manufacturing knowledge. In his capstone senior design project, Bemnet was the primary manufacturer and designer of a mechanical lift arm to remove full build plates from Selective Laser Melting (SLM) metal additive machines.

In the fall of 2019, he began his master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, and shortly after joined the DREAMS lab. Bemnet’s current research focus is working with the Additive Manufacturing technology of Direct Energy Deposition (DED) to optimize deposition strategies to achieve high quality parts.

During his graduate studies, Bemnet has interned with GE Research working with their Manufacturing Technologies team focusing on optimizing deposition strategies for cladding and repair applications using DED technologies.

Outside of academics, Bemnet enjoys photography, road trips, and hiking.