Introducing the State-of-the-Art Additive Manufacturing Research in Education

Although additive manufacturing technologies have undergone significant development in recent years, significant challenges remain in the understanding of the physics of the processes as well as many other aspects. Therefore, in the education of the next-generation AM workforce, besides the instruction of existing AM knowledge, it is of critical importance that the state-of-the-art research subjects and concepts are also made aware to the students. In various classroom and lab setups at University of Louisville, contemporary AM research subjects are introduced to students via various tools, which include self-guided literature review, project-based research subject investigation, open research discussion sessions, and design competitions. Through literature review-based studies the students not only become aware of various research subjects but also have the opportunity to practice critical analysis with new AM knowledge. Through project-based learning, the students also gain hands-on experiences with AM research, which can be applied to new AM research and development problems in their future career.