Prior to joining UTRC, he served as Program Directors for the Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) Program, the Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRCs) Program, and the Design, Manufacture, and Industrial Innovation (DMII) Div. at the National Science Foundation (NSF) during 1991-1998. Prior to joining NSF, he held several engineering and research management positions at Robotics Vision Systems, Inc. (RVSI), Anorad Corp (a Rockwell Automation company), and the Office of Advanced Technology of the U.S. Postal Services-HQ. Previously, he had served as an adjunct professor for a number of academic institutions, including Johns Hopkins University, where he had served a part-time faculty member for the Hopkins Technical Management Program as well as for the School of Engineering and Applied Science during 1992-1998. He conducted research work at the Mechanical Engineering Lab. of the Ministry of International Trades and Industry (MITI) as a Japan Science and Technology Agency Fellow in 1995 as well as at the Univ. of Tokyo under a Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship in 1997.

Working in the broad field of engineering, Dr. Lee has been involved in research, engineering development, and innovation management activities in the areas of precision machinery, intelligent automation, intelligent maintenance, as well as product innovation and manufacturing strategies. His current research work involves in the areas of innovative design of smart self-maintenance products, web-enabled e-maintenance and e-manufacturing technologies, and product embedded infotronics. His recent book entitled Computer-aided Maintenance: methodologies and practices, was published by Kluwer Publishing in March 1999.

Currently, he serves as member of Board on Manufacturing and Engineering Design (BMAED) of National Research Council (NRC) and a Technical Advisory Board member for Global Cybersoft Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA), and a committee member of NRC Study Panel on Defense Modeling and Simulation in Manufacturing, as well as an executive advisory committee member for the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) for Army Research Office (ARO), Previously, he served as member of Board of Directors for the National Center for Manufacturing Science (NCMS), the chairman of the Manufacturing Engineering Div. of ASME, and committee members for the Manufacturing Process Control Study Board and the New York Science and Technology Center Review Board for the National Research Council (NRC). In addition, he serves as editorial board for a number of journals, including the ASME Journal on Manufacturing Science & Engineering, IEEE Transaction on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, International Journal on Quality, Reliability, and Safety.

He has over 80 technical publications, authored and co-authored two books, numerous book chapters, four U.S. patents, and had delivered over 100 invited lectures and speeches, including 40 invited keynote speeches at major international conferences.