America Makes Announces Its Second Satellite Center to be Located at Texas A&M University

America Makes announces its second America Makes Satellite Center to be located within the facilities of the Institute’s member, the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), a part of The Texas A&M University System, in College Station, TX. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between America Makes, which is managed by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), and TEES was signed and announced during a signing event held at the Zachry Engineering Education Complex.

In attendance for the MOU signing event was America Makes Executive Director Rob Gorham; America Makes Director of Partnerships & Community Relations Erin O’Donnell; America Makes Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) Program Manager Dennis Butcher; M. Katherine Banks, Ph.D., Texas A&M Engineering Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering and National Labs; and Dimitris Lagoudas, Ph.D., TEES Deputy Director.

“On behalf of all of us at America Makes, we are pleased to announce the selection of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station as the site of our second America Makes Satellite Center,” says Gorham. “For more than 100 years, TEES has performed groundbreaking engineering research and developed technology to address state and national problems. With our second America Makes Satellite Center to also be located in Texas, housed on the Texas A&M campus, we have strategically expanded our reach of accelerating the adoption of additive manufacturing technologies to encompass all of the Southwest and Southeast United States.”

Banks adds, “Texas A&M has one of the largest concentrations of core manufacturing subject matter experts in the country, which makes it the perfect location for American Makes’ newest Satellite Center. As a Platinum-level member of America Makes, we have built a strong partnership with the Institute and will be able to leverage our relationships with industry and academe to accelerate new developments in additive manufacturing technologies.”

Managed by NCDMM, America Makes is the national accelerator for additive manufacturing (AM) and the first Institute within the Manufacturing USA network. As a public-private partnership, America Makes currently has a membership community comprised of more than 220 member organizations.

The objective of the America Makes Satellite Center model is to extend the reach of the existing America Makes mission by complementing and expanding its current regional, industrial, and technological footprint. America Makes founded its first Satellite Center in 2015 at the W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Ryan Wicker, Ph.D., director and founder of the Keck Center, was also in attendance at today’s signing event to lend his support to the expansion of the America Makes Satellite Center network.

“By expanding the Satellite Center network to include another world-class engineering research entity, we are able to capitalize on the strength of our shared goal and synergies to further the innovation in and the adoption of AM technologies,” says O’Donnell. “From Youngstown to El Paso and now College Station, America Makes is leading the transition of AM technologies from the research lab to commercialization. I can’t wait to collaborate with the America Makes Satellite Center teams at both UTEP’s Keck Center and TEES to fulfill the mission of America Makes.”

TEES, as an engineering research agency of the state of Texas and an entity within the Engineering Program of the Texas A&M System, is focused on advancing transformational engineering. TEES helps government and industry partners deliver technology solutions to challenges in energy, infrastructure, national security and safety, healthcare, information systems and sensors, materials and manufacturing, technology transfer and workforce development.

The plan is for the America Makes Satellite Center to be located in Texas A&M University’s Emerging Technologies Building initially. However, the long-term goal is to move the Satellite Center to The Texas A&M University System RELLIS Campus, a high-tech, multi-institutional research, testing and workforce development campus in Bryan, TX. The Texas A&M System is currently expanding the RELLIS Campus by developing an additional 2,000 acres at the site.

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America Makes

NCDMM

TEES

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W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

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