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AMUG Announces Keynote Speakers for 2025 AM Conference

The Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) has announced its keynote speakers for the 2025 AMUG Conference, which will be held in Chicago, Illinois, from March 30 – April 3, 2025. Ryan Watkins, Research Engineer with NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), will take the stage on Tuesday, April 1. Joe Scarbo, President of Scarbo Performance Corp, will engage the audience on Thursday, April 3.

Watkins’ and Scarbo’s work traverses from the Baja Desert to Aspen Mountain to Pikes Peak and out into the solar system. From the stage, they will inspire through intriguing vehicle designs and exhilarating space exploration experiences. Their recounts of past and present projects will convey the messages of pragmatic decision-making coupled with innovation to push the boundaries of what is possible with additive manufacturing.

Linking Design With Additive Manufacturing

Ryan Watkins’ keynote presentation will have the central theme of ‘linking design with additive manufacturing’ in the context of developing 3D-printed, crushable structures for high-speed impact attenuation applications. He will discuss the unique context that required NASA to develop this new class of crushable structures, along with the manufacturing and design barriers that were overcome to achieve this goal. Maybe more importantly, he will tell the story of technology infusion in the relatively conservative field of aerospace engineering, highlighting his successes and failures along this journey.

Joe Scarbo will take the AMUG Conference stage to convey how, when, and why his company used additive manufacturing in its most recent performance vehicles. Under the Scarbo Vintage (SV) brand, his team has created the SV RSR, which raced in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb as Ken Block’s Hoonipigasus, and the SV Rover, which ran in the Baja 1000. Following the Baja race, the SV Rover transitioned into the world’s first street-legal Hypertruck, powered by a 1,100-horsepower supercharged V8 or a 1,000-horsepower electric drive.

Both SV vehicles contain numerous additively manufactured parts. Throughout his keynote presentation, Scarbo will present his thoughts on why additive manufacturing was—or was not—the right process; thoughts that are grounded in his mechanical engineering, welding, machining, and racing pedigrees.

Rounding out the featured presentations on the AMUG Conference stage will be a panel discussion with industry leaders representing AMUG’s Diamond Sponsors on Monday, March 31, and the Innovators Showcase on Wednesday, April 2. The keynotes and featured presentations will kickstart each day of the conference and set the tone for nearly 150 presentations, panel discussions, workshops, and hands-on training sessions. Designed for novice and experienced additive manufacturing users, the AMUG Conference agenda topics range from technology basics to advanced applications to business considerations.

For more information: www.amug.com

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