The Hudson Valley Additive Manufacturing Center (HVAMC) and the Digital Design and Fabrication (DDF) academic minor have been in existence for almost 8 years.  An explanation of what we do here is usually lengthy because we do not fit into any standard academic category.  That is something we take great pride in, by the way.  As my colleague Aaron Nelson puts it, “we’re not interdisciplinary, we’re antidisciplinary”.  We are also still reinventing what we do on a regular basis.  The Fabricator will be an attempt to explain what we do by describing some of the philosophy behind the direction(s) we are going in, as well as detailing some of the projects that we are working on.   

Let me introduce the HVAMC.  I will introduce the Digital Design and Fabrication program in a later post.   

The HVAMC is an academic center at the State University of New York at New Paltz (newpaltz.edu/hvamc) that focuses on additive manufacturing (the more formal term for 3D printing).  That doesn’t make us unique, but we are one of only a few academic 3D printing centers at a comprehensive university.  For those unfamiliar with academic inside baseball, a comprehensive university is typically a mid-size institution, focusing primarily on undergraduate programs, but with some Masters programs.  As opposed to the research mission of the larger universities, we focus mainly on teaching and supporting the Mid-Hudson Valley region economically.  This is core to what we do in the HVAMC.  We support campus design programs (art, engineering and our interdisciplinary Digital Design and Fabrication minor) by offering rapid prototyping on state-of-the-art 3D printers and expert advice about processes and materials.  We also support businesses and individuals in the community through these same services.  Over the years, we have worked with hundreds of manufacturers, entrepreneurs, designers, artists, architects, inventors to help them use additive manufacturing in their businesses.  Along the way, we have broken ground in the academic use of additive manufacturing, being the first campus to open a Makerbot Innovation Center (a large array of desktop printers) and the first campus to be designated as an Stratasys Academic Superlab.   

The history of the HVAMC wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging the community support that made it possible.  Our equipment was almost entirely financed by grants from Central Hudson Gas and Electric, the Dyson Foundation, Hudson River Ventures and an awesome group of local companies and alumni listed on our website.  And, of course, all of our customers and partners that have trusted us over the years with their time-sensitive and important projects.   

More next week! 

Keep on Printing, 

Dan