Conference: Student Support to attend the Thirty-Fourth Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) Symposium; Austin, Texas; 14-16 August 2023

This grant provides support for student participation at the Thirty-Fourth Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) Symposium; Austin, Texas; 14-16 August 2023. The SFF Symposium is a forum for transfer and dissemination of knowledge and understanding in the field of additive, freeform and hybrid manufacturing. In 2022, 93 universities were represented, 68 of which were domestic. More than 43 percent of the meeting attendees were students with a total participation of 693 attendees. Students will have opportunities to interact and share ideas with researchers from academia, research laboratories, industry, and students from both domestic and international universities. In an effort to make the conference affordable, and therefore accessible to students, the travel award will contribute towards conference registration fees, accommodation and travel expenses of qualified awardees. The call for student support applications will be disseminated through: (1) emails to corresponding authors of submitted abstracts (due in April 2023), (2) emails to participants of recent SFF meetings (2017-2022), (3) SFF website and (4) social media (newsletter and LinkedIn posts). Submitted applications will go through a selection process by the conference committee using selection criteria that include (1) students must be from US institutions and (2) students must be actively participating in the conference through presenting a paper or poster, or participating in a competition, with preference given to students from underrepresented minorities. Student awardees will be invited to a luncheon panel discussing research and future career opportunities in additive manufacturing. This award will afford the next generation of leaders a global perspective, exposure to the latest cutting-edge ideas, and insights on future challenges. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.