AMUG
2025 AMUG DINOs
The Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) has announced the latest recipients of its prestigious DINO (Distinguished INnovator Operator) Award and Technical Competition winners.
To date, AMUG has awarded only 199 DINOs. The newly named recipients, which were recognised for their tenure and contributions to the AM industry and active support of AMUG, are:
- Amy Alexander, Mayo Clinic
- Dan Braley, Boeing Global Services
- Patrick Gannon, Ricoh USA, Inc.
- Ryan Kircher, rms Company
- Dallas Martin, Toyota
- Brennon White, General Motors
Bruce LeMaster, co-chair of the DINO Selection Committee and AMUG's director at large, said, "The DINO Committee gets to see, in great detail, the contributions candidates make in our industry. Candidates tend to be very humble individuals, but when we receive their nominations, we learn about their involvement with STEM initiatives and industry organizations, as well as how they answer questions from those in the industry and how they are willing to make introductions and connections that help others.
"Those who are ultimately selected for a DINO Award exemplify a 'giving' attitude that complements their knowledge of additive manufacturing,"
Nominations for 2026 DINO candidates will be accepted beginning October 1, 2025.
AMUG
AMUG Technical Competition winners
AMUG has also named the winners of its annual Technical Competition. Entries from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Equispheres Inc. took home awards for Advanced Finishing and Advanced Concepts, respectively, as voted for by a panel of ten AMUG DINOs, while a project from Ricoh 3D for Healthcare was selected as the Members' Choice winner.
Bonnie Meyer, co-chair of the Technical Competition Committee, said, "The AMUG Technical Competition brings together an impressive range of industries and applications, offering participants a valuable platform to highlight their accomplishments. This year, the judges placed a greater emphasis on entries that demonstrated practical solutions with real-world impact – applications that are not only innovative but deliver tangible benefits. Ultimately, the competition fosters creativity and excellence in additive manufacturing."
Ryan Watkins, research engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and keynote speaker at this year's AMUG Conference, submitted the winning entry in the Advanced Finishing category, "Mars Sample Return Crush Lattices." While AM produced small unit-cell lattice structures, printing limitations yielded ligament thicknesses (and overall part mass) that were suboptimal for the mission. To address the limitations, NASA JPL worked with REM Surface Engineering's chemical polishing process to controllably reduce ligament thickness and overall component mass by over 80% while ensuring that the parts would meet mission requirements.
Evan Butler-Jones, vice president of product & strategy at Equispheres Inc., submitted the winning entry titled "Applying Additive Manufacturing for Integrated Passive Cooling in an e-Motor Housing" for Advanced Concepts. Equispheres worked with Martinrea Internationals to deliver an aluminium part that is said to offer significant potential in electric vehicles (EVs) and other industries with thermal management challenges. The design and printing process produced an integrated vapor chamber for two-phase passive and liquid cooling in a single structure, which eliminates the need for additional cooling components while improving heat transfer efficiency. Fundamentally, the laser powder bed fusion process combined partial and full melting to produce the passively cooled vapor chambers within the motor housing.
In the Members’ Choice category, which is voted for by AMUG's Members, Luke Hileman, lead technician for Ricoh 3D for Healthcare, was recognised for the "Neonatal Thoracentesis Trainer", which will serve as a crucial training tool for healthcare professionals. The high-fidelity simulation model used advanced printing techniques and technology to create the trainer with haptics that "feel like the real thing."
For Advanced Finishing, Aaron Sherman of HellermanTyton took second place for "Miniature Tabletop Gaming Models by Pocket Dimension Studios." Third place was awarded to Brent Griffith of Labconco Corporation for "Nature's Grip Recreated: Advanced 3D Print Finishing Techniques on Rock Climbing." In Advanced Concepts, second place was awarded to the Members' Choice winner, Luke Hileman. Jacob Kallivayakik of Eaton Corporation garnered third place for "AM for Electric Machines."
Also at this month's AMUG Conference, Jason Lopes, Chief Technology Officer of Gentle Giant Studios, was recognised with its President’s Award, and 3D printing veteran Joe Allison was presented with the Innovators Award in recognition of what has been described as his "pivotal role" within the 3D printing industry.
