Sai Ashish Kumar Karanam earned a spot on the 2026 Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) 30 Under 30 list. Karanam is a doctoral candidate in the School of Engineering Technology at Purdue Polytechnic. SME publishes the annual list to recognize young professionals demonstrating excellence in advanced manufacturing.
Karanam grew up in India, and developed an early interest in aerospace and mechanical engineering through pop culture.
"I got so obsessed with the James Bond movie 'Moonraker,'" Karanam told SME. There was something remarkable about a hero who has to use space-age technology to save the world.
He eventually earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Andhra University. He collaborated with two colleagues in 2021 to compete in national aerospace competitions. As a result, the team won third place in NASA's Lunar Delivery Challenge. They also won a $25,000 prize in the NASA Break the Ice Challenge.
The founders parlayed this success into a commercial startup. They established Inertia Astronautics LLC in Seattle to develop autonomous systems for space exploration. Karanam also serves as the co-founder and chief executive officer of KKB Tech Solutions. The India-based company provides research and engineering services for the aerospace and defense sectors.
Karanam currently researches digital manufacturing and smart factory integration at Purdue. He works as a graduate research assistant at the Indiana Manufacturing Institute. His roles span the Indiana Manufacturing Competitiveness Center (IN-MaC) and the Digital Enterprise Center. His doctoral dissertation investigates hybrid digital twins for CNC machining. Karanam is using a Formula 1-style wheel nut as a case study to connect high-precision manufacturing with sustainability and inspection traceability.
He recently developed an extended reality training program using the Apple Vision Pro headset. He collaborated with Apple, the Digital Enterprise Center, and Purdue's Spatial Lab to build an aseptic transfer training module. He presented the project at the SME North American Manufacturing Research Conference in Pennsylvania this year.
Karanam maintains a personal tradition to commemorate his professional milestones. He sends a message to his late mother's phone number after every major achievement.
"I text her every single thing," Karanam said. "Wherever she is, I hope she'll be looking into that."
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