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America Makes has revealed that its third Satellite Center will be located on the campus of Wichita State University (WSU) within the facilities of the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) in Wichita, Kan.
Announced during the America Makes TRX+ event this week, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between America Makes and WSU-NIAR, will see NIAR become the institute's first industry-specific Satellite Center solely focused on additive manufacturing for aerospace.
Speaking about the partnership, John Wilczynski, Executive Director at America Makes said NIAR has made a name for itself as the “most capable university-based aviation research centre in the United States”.
NIAR is made up of 20 on-site labs with representation by nearly every major aerospace OEM and is also home to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Center of Excellence for Composites and Advanced Materials (CECAM) and the National Center for Advanced Materials Performance (NCAMP).
John S. Tomblin, Ph.D., WSU Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer and NIAR Executive Director commented: “We’re honoured to be recognised as a valuable research partner for the Institute. We have already seen great benefits as members of America Makes, and we expect our increased involvement as a Satellite Center to magnify those for us and for America Makes.”
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). Earlier this year, it announced that a second Satellite Center would be located at the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), a part of The Texas A&M University System, in College Station, Texas.
America Makes Director of Partnerships & Community Relations Erin O’Donnell added: “Our goal for the Satellite Centers is to leverage the existing collaborative partnerships and further grow them into a larger ecosystem of additive specialisation. With NIAR joining the America Makes Satellite Center infrastructure, we are very excited to focus on certifying and qualifying additive technologies within the aerospace sector. The outcomes of such an effort are poised to have a tremendous impact on our membership community, the aerospace sector, and the additive manufacturing industry.”
