Five students from New Mexico State University’s College of Engineering attended the second annual Quality Control in Additive Manufacturing, or QCAM, summer workshop at Navajo Technical University in Crownpoint, New Mexico, in May. This two-week workshop led by Scott Halliday, director of the NTU Center for Advanced Manufacturing, included 15 students from NMSU, Prairie View A&M University and NTU who engaged in intense hands-on training in additive manufacturing.
QCAM is a Department of Energy-sponsored project started by Ehsan Dehghan-Niri in 2021 within the Minority Serving Institution Partnership Program. The mission of QCAM is to establish a sustainable pipeline of skilled workers in the field of STEM with advanced knowledge and experience related to additive manufacturing and quality control to serve in the National Nuclear Security Agency, or NNSA, National Labs and Plants, and solve high impact technical problems.
The workshop was designed to give participants the opportunity to take part in a variety of demonstrations and hands-on activities utilizing technologies like metal additive manufacturing, computer-aided design and metrology. Students also were provided with several presentations and professional networking opportunities with scientists and researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Kansas City National Security Campus and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, who attended the workshop to introduce students to careers opportunities available at the national laboratories.
Borys Drach, QCAM’s program director and associate professor in the NMSU Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, said the workshop gave students a comprehensive overview of the dynamic field of additive manufacturing.
“Throughout the summer camp, expert instructors and facilitators provided guidance to students, equipping them with the knowledge and skills necessary for a successful career in the field of additive manufacturing,” Drach said. “The students had an opportunity to interact with representatives of the top national labs and learn about fascinating bio-inspired research from our guest speakers Professor David Hu from Georgia Institute of Technology and Dr. Christin Murphy from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. The workshop was an amazing experience for students and instructors, and our QCAM team looks forward to inviting the next year’s cohort to the QCAM summer camp.”
Kate Lewis, QCAM’s program coordinator and NMSU Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department program specialist, described the workshop as a unique opportunity for students from NMSU to expand their abilities while also networking with national lab scientists.
“Even more important, is the opportunity to meet and connect with students from other cultures and backgrounds,” Lewis said. “This gives the students the chance to build their communication and teambuilding skills, which I think can be equally as important as the subject matter expertise they gain over the course of this two-week workshop. The most common feedback we get from students who participate is they wish they had more time and could stay longer.”
Darin McFadden, an NMSU graduate student and QCAM research assistant, participated in the workshop for his first time. From the skills and connections McFadden made, he said he would attend again and recommends students to participate.
“Through the camp, I learned many things about the metal additive manufacturing process while collaborating with friends, professionals and mentors,” McFadden said. “I gained several technical and networking skills to help support my research thesis and my curiosity in engineering.”
Stephen Northrup, an NMSU mechanical engineering senior, said that attending the workshop made him realize that he wanted to continue his engineering education.
“I gained new insights not only into the research possibilities of additive manufacturing, but to the abundant opportunities in the Department of Energy, the NNSA and the various national labs,” Northrup said. “I would definitely go again. I highly recommend that every eligible engineering student apply.”
For more information on QCAM, visit https://qcam.nmsu.edu/index.html.