This project supported student participation in the Twenty-Eighth International Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) Symposium, an additive manufacturing conference.  The symposium took place on August 7-9, 2017 in Austin, Texas at The University of Texas at Austin. 

Funds offset student registrations which enabled students to attend and participate.  There were 292 students at the meeting which represented approximately 45% of the entire meeting participation.  There were 101 NSF travel award winners selected from 151 applicants.  Of these, 93 students attended the full meeting and thus qualified for the award. 

The meeting had 445 oral presentations and 28 poster presentations.  Of these, 220 papers were included in the 2881-page proceedings.  Authors had an option to have their papers peer reviewed prior to publication.  Thirteen additional conference manuscripts were published in special issues of JOM and the Virtual and Physical Prototyping journals.

Intellectual Merit

The Twenty-Eighth International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium was attended by 654 national and international researchers. The Symposium was organized in a manner to allow the multidisciplinary nature of the additive manufacturing research to be presented coherently, with various sessions emphasizing computer interfacing and modeling, machine and process development and materials and materials processing for additive manufacturing.  The three-day event was completely composed of individual oral presentations to accommodate the demand for this dissemination format.  The parallel sessions were split into ten sessions to meet demand, and a poster session allowed researchers to present in this format.  We believe that documenting the changing state of additive manufacturing, as represented by the meeting proceedings, serves both the people presently involved in this fruitful technical area as well as the flux of new researchers and users entering the field.

Funds offset student registrations which enabled students to attend and participate.  There were 101 NSF travel award winners from 151 total applicants.  Of these, 93 students attended the full meeting and thus qualified for the award.  Of these, 13 were covered using residual funds from the 2016 NSF conference grant (CMMI-1639406) for, and the remaining 80 were covered using the 2017 NSF conference grant (CMMI-1725038). 

Information on the SFF Symposium was made available through the worldwide web at http://sffsymposium.engr.utexas.edu/archive.  On-line registration forms, hotel information, general information and the all previous proceedings articles were all available.

Broader Impacts

In addition to the benefits of direct meeting participation, students were able to network with the international additive manufacturing research community.  Wider dissemination was accomplished through the proceedings.  A total of 220 papers were included in the proceedings volume with an additional 13 conference papers included in special issues of two journals.  Authors contributed manuscripts both unreviewed and reviewed to allow authors the option of presenting their work in a refereed format.

The SFF Symposium serves as a primary forum for networking and dissemination of information dealing with research issues in freeform fabrication.  According to Ian Campbell, senior editor of the Rapid Prototyping Journal, “The SFF Symposium is to be regarded as the foremost international conference for rapid prototyping research.”  RPJ, 9#1, 2003. In a recent tally by additive manufacturing (AM) experts on the most significant milestones in the history of AM, excepting the invention of specific AM processes, the inauguration of the SFF Symposium ranks highest [1].  When asked which publications had greatest influence on the AM field, the Proceedings of the SFF Symposium tied with the only refereed archival journal dedicated solely to the AM field, the British-based Rapid Prototyping Journal [1].  This same group ranked the SFF Symposium highest by over 50% to the next conference when asked what meeting contributed most to the development of the AM field [1]. The SFF Symposium Conference Proceedings are heavily cited in the archival literature, and it is anticipated that the 2015 Proceedings will be as well.

[1] Christopher L. Weber, et al., "The Role of the National Science Foundation in the Origin and Evolution of Additive Manufacturing in the United States", IDA Paper P-5091, IDA Science & Technology Policy Institute, Washington, DC, 2013.

Additive Manufacturing is an extremely broad and interdisciplinary field, encompassing mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, biomedical engineering, computer science and engineering, biology, design, materials science and engineering, and manufacturing science.  The topics covered at the SFF symposium impact the automotive, aerospace, orthopedics, dentistry, gaming, surgical planning, implants, marine, architecture, furniture, and art industries, among others.  The 2017 conference served as a forum for this diverse interdisciplinary group of researchers to gather for the purpose of synergistic interaction and sharing of ideas and progress.

This conference serves as a meeting opportunity for researchers, a number of whom are involved to varying degrees in entrepreneurial activities.  The networking aspect of the conference is strong and includes students who are able to meet and discuss research with world-class leading experts in the field.

Last Modified: 01/16/2018
Modified by: Carolyn Seepersad