2020 AMUG Scholarship winners: Katherine Schneidau and Chris Kaminsky.
The Additive Manufacturing Users Group Scholarship Committee has named this year's recipients of its two annual scholarship awards.
The scholarships, which give one student and one teacher the opportunity to attend the annual additive manufacturing (AM) conference, are designed to recognise educational leaders with a passion for 3D printing technology.
The Guy E. Bourdeau Scholarship, founded by Guy’s wife Renee Bourdeau, and financially supported by Cimquest, Inc., has been awarded to Katherine Schneidau, a mechanical engineering graduate student at the University of Louisville. The Randy Stevens Scholarship, founded by Randy’s employer In’Tech Industries, has been presented to Chris Kaminsky, Lakeshore Fab Lab manager at the Muskegon Community College.
Brett Charlton, chair of the AMUG Scholarship Committee, said: “I’m so excited to announce that Ms. Schneidau and Mr. Kaminsky have accepted the scholarships and will attend AMUG 2020. Once again, the pool of applicants was strong, and their experiences were vast. I’m certainly in awe—the experiences of our 2020 applicants in AM are astonishing, and it bodes well for AM’s future! The talent pool made it a challenge to select the right individuals, but both of our recipients are amazing and truly deserving of this honour.”
Schneidau's first interaction with AM was through an engineering co-op at the U of L Rapid Prototyping Center where she gained experience with a range processes and found her passion for the field. Applying her hands-on technical know-how, Schneidau has created new process parameters for both polymers and metals, and in one particular project, developed a flexible recoater blade for use in the EOS M270 and M290 systems. As a graduate student, Schneidau has been actively sharing her knowledge with new co-op engineers and says she wants to be a driving force in addressing the growing demand for AM-educated engineers and technicians.
Meanwhile, fab lab manager Kaminsky provides people with access to AM technology through Muskegon Community College's entrepreneurially focused makerspace. He is considered an AM evangelist, working to make AM more accessible through his MI3D organisation which hosts local events supporting more than 500 3D print enthusiasts. Chris also provides prototyping and design services through his company Crisco Designs and has worked in application/mechanical engineering roles at General Motors, Burton Precision, Perception Engineering, and JR Automation.
The AMUG Conference will be held March 22 – 26, 2020, at the Hilton Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. Register here to attend.
