News

3D Printing Summer Camps Prove Big Success for RCBI

July 22, 2013 | Categories: Member News

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — July 22, 2013 — When the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing (RCBI), a member of NAMII, invited area students to two Summer Camps focused on 3D Printing, the response was so overwhelming, a third camp was quickly scheduled. The three camps enrolled a total of 60 middle school students.

Given the overwhelming response from interested youngsters, additional camps could have been scheduled had time allowed.

“3D Printing isn’t the wave of the future, it’s happening here and now,” said Charlotte Weber, RCBI Director & CEO. “Since 2009 dozens of manufacturers and entrepreneurs have used our Design Works labs and taken advantage of our 3D printers. Now we’re thrilled to be able to offer local students a hands-on introduction to this innovative technology.”

Each camp included four consecutive morning sessions at the RCBI Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center in downtown Huntington, where the young campers were given an opportunity to create and manufacture ideas using 3D Software and 3D Printers in the RCBI Design Works lab.

In addition to activities at RCBI, the camps included a tour of the Marshall University Visualization Lab at the Arthur Weisberg Family Engineering Laboratories on Marshall’s campus as well as a visit to the Huntington plant of Alcon Research Ltd. The high-tech plant is a world-class manufacturer of intraocular lenses used to correct cataracts.

“We’re thrilled that our camps proved so popular with students,” said Weber, “The camps are fun, hands-on, educational, interactive and encourage STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills that are critical to the future of manufacturing.”