Engineering Dean John Judge and Vice Admiral (retired) Mel Williams Jr., M.S.E. 1984 — who also serves as Associate Dean for Professional Programs in the School of Engineering — recently celebrated the installation of the school’s new Markforged Metal X 3-D printer in the Admiral Williams Laboratory in Pangborn Hall.
The state-of-the-art system — the first of its kind at a university in the D.C. region — is capable of printing high-precision parts from various metals, achieving shapes that are impossible for traditional machine-shop tools.
Students and instructors in the new Additive Manufacturing certificate program were on hand for the unveiling, as well as faculty and staff (several in person, some via Zoom).
Sergio Picozzi, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and associate director of the Materials Science and Engineering Program, gave a description of the system and its capabilities, along with Glenn May, field application engineer for DesignPoint, who performed the final steps of the installation and trained CatholicU faculty and staff on the new printer’s operation.
The Admiral Williams Laboratory was dedicated in Williams’ honor last year on Veterans Day. In his role as director of the Materials Science and Engineering program, Williams oversees the school’s new effort in Additive Manufacturing.
