AMUG may have closed the doors of its 2023 edition in March, but the organizing team is working hard throughout the year to deliver an event that is worth of the AM industry.
Since March, the organization bestowed its prestigious President’s Award to Mark Wynn, Senior Technical Specialist for Yazaki North America, Inc. (Canton, Michigan); awarded DINO (Distinguished INnovator Operator) Awards to ten individuals, announced the winners of its annual Technical Competition, which recognizes excellence in additive manufacturing applications and finishing techniques and voted Shannon VanDeren as its new President.
A closer look at these awards
As far as the President’s Award is concerned, it should be noted that it recognizes the exemplary vision, leadership, and tireless years of service for the advancement of AMUG. Over its entire history, AMUG has presented only eleven President’s Awards. According to Mark Abshire, AMUG previous President, “Mark Wynn’s perseverance, dedication, passion, professionalism, and selflessness were apparent in each of the AMUG roles he filled. And the result of those qualities was excellence in his work.”
Mark Wynn’s first AMUG Conference was in 1995, and his AMUG volunteerism reaches back to 2000. He served many roles over the years, including AMUGexpo team lead, Deputy Vice President, AMUG Board of Directors member, and Expo Committee Chair. In 2015, Wynn received another esteemed AMUG award, the DINO (Distinguished Innovator Operator).
The DINO Awards on the other hand, recognize individuals’ tenure in the AM industry, years of service, contributions to the industry, and active support of the users group. Gary Rabinovitz, DINO Selection Committee Chair and Director at Large, said, “This award recognizes not only experience but also character and passion. Following a lengthy nomination and review process, the committee selected ten deserving individuals from over 1,800 attendees of the AMUG Conference.”
The newly named DINOs are:
- Tim Bell, MELD Manufacturing Corporation
- Bogdan Filipkowski, Custom Prototypes Inc.
- Rob Hassold, Cimquest, Inc.
- Danny Levy, Influit Energy
- Matthew Mitchell, Yazaki North America
- Heather Natal, GoEngineer
- Roger Nielsen, In’Tech Industries
- Dave Rittmeyer, Mathews International
- Colton Rooney, EMI Corp.
- Alex Roschli, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
The Technical Competition took place at the annual AMUG Conference in Chicago, Illinois. It recognizes excellence in additive manufacturing applications and finishing techniques.
A panel of industry veterans selected the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) and Custom Prototypes as Advanced Concepts and Advanced Finishing winners. AMUG Members also selected UDRI for the Members’ Choice Award. Among these winning entries, we would keep in mind the Custom Prototypes’ winning entry in the Advance Finishing category. Entitled “Tomlinsonus Dimitrii – The oldest fossil of marine animal ever found,” it represents the company’s entry. Daniel Goncalves and Jung Kyu Im spearheaded the work to bring the 450-million-year-old fossil back to life. In collaboration with a University of Toronto science team, the pair created a digital model of the fossil and then printed it with stereolithography.
Goncalves and Im stated, “By carefully selecting the materials and post-processing systems, we managed to create various soft, hard, transparent, and opaque tissues of the animal.” The pair noted that Custom Prototypes had developed a process that alters the properties of 3D-printed materials in terms of hardness and transparency. With the physical model complete, they then painstakingly prepared the piece and applied color to the delicate features of this sea creature.
Shannon VanDeren as new President and other appointments
Following Mark Abshire’s resignation from his role as President of AMUG, the collective Board voted Shannon VanDeren as the new president of the organization. VanDeren has served as a volunteer for AMUG for the last 10 years – first as a Track Leader (8 years), concurrently as a Committee Member, and more recently as the elected Vice President. The Board is currently working to appoint a new Vice President.
AMUG has also hired its first employee, Jordan Weston, as Operations Manager. He will be coordinating the daily operations and liaising between the Board and the select contractors. Jordan’s historical contributions, and those to come with this new role, are sure to elevate the success of the organization. With Jordan’s hire, it opened up his previously-held role of Director of Education and Conference. With many years as a Track Leader, and serving as the Track Leader Committee Chair, the Board has appointed Ed Graham to this position.
“I’m also excited to announce Claire Belson Barnes has been appointed Director of Membership. Her years of dedication to AMUG started as a Guy E. Bourdeau scholarship recipient and has continued by participating on the Scholarship and Registration Committees,” VanDeren states.
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