Now in its third year, the 2017 Additive Manufacturing Competition consisted of 34 high school and post-secondary student teams competing for a chance to take home gold, silver, or bronze medals - as well as scholarships from the SME Education Foundation, and a MakerBot Mini printer. The Additive Manufacturing Competition was created to stimulate student learning of additive manufacturing and 3D printing techniques.
"Each year, we attract more students to participate in the SkillsUSA Additive Manufacturing Competition and we couldn't be more thrilled with the growth," said Jeff Krause, executive director and CEO of SME. "This is an exciting time for additive manufacturing and 3D printing and we are proud to be at the forefront of its evolution and making sure our future manufacturing leaders will be prepared for what lies ahead as the industry progresses."
The 2017 Additive Manufacturing Competition involved designing and printing a track piece (fixture) capable of moving a marble to a designated location after the ball rolls down a ramp. The fixture was required to connect with the ramp at specific points and remain stable for the test's duration. Each team was provided time to design the fixture, build the 3D printed prototype on a Stratasys 3D printer, and make any necessary design modifications the next day.
Contestants also participated in a mini-challenge, which required them to fix broken issues within an STL file. After completing the design process, participants later presented findings to a panel of professionals in the additive manufacturing field. Presentations included full analysis of how the design and re-design process was managed.
Participants were also offered the opportunity to participate in Tooling U-SME's new Additive Manufacturing Fundamentals Certification, the first and only nationally normalized, stackable or sequential, credential process in additive manufacturing.
More than 16,000 people — including students, teachers and business partners — participated in events at the SkillsUSA national conference, highlighting the capabilities of career and technical education students in their respective fields.
2017 winners of the SME/Stratasys SkillsUSA Additive Manufacturing Competition included:
High School Teams
Gold Medal: Cameron McLaughlin, Mathew Marinelli
Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School
Marlborough, Massachusetts
Silver Medal: Andrew Schalk, Braden Clayberg
Stafford Senior High School
Falmouth, Virginia
Bronze Medal: Andrew Daddone, Trevor Wheelock
Frederick County Career & Technology Center
Frederick, Maryland
College Teams
Gold Medal: Collin Goddes, Thomas Houston
Calhoun Community College
Decatur, AL
Silver Medal: James Bruce, Mattias Anderson
Butte College
Oroville, California
Bronze Medal: Amadeo Verstegen, Timothy Myers
Madison Area Technical College
Madison, Wisconsin
Click here to see the track pieces this year's winners designed. View our Flickr photos from the competition. To learn more about SME and SkillsUSA click here. See the full press release here.
About SME
SME connects all those who are passionate about making things that improve our world. As a nonprofit organization, SME has served practitioners, companies, educators, government and communities across the manufacturing spectrum for more than 80 years. Through its strategic areas of events, media, membership, training and development, and the SME Education Foundation, SME is uniquely dedicated to the advancement of manufacturing by addressing both knowledge and skills needed for the industry. Follow
@SME_MFG on Twitter or
facebook.com/SMEmfg.
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SOURCE SME
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