I invite you to attend the High Performance Technologies Conference 2020 (HPTC 2020), themed "3-D Printing in Defense, Space, and Transportation," to be held on September 23-24, 2020 in Dulles, Virginia. 

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Recently, I had the privilege of organizing and chairing the First International Conference on 3-D Printing and Transportation, under the sponsorship of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The interest in 3-D printing, particularly its application in large-scale manufacturing, was overwhelming. 

The technology, which took shape in 1980’s and was initially limited to manufacturing small products, is moving to large-scale manufacturing in defense, space, and transportation applications. Expeditionary defense structures, rockets, habitat at Moon and Mars, and transportation infrastructure have been 3D printed or being explored for 3-D printing.  This technology has the potential of bringing transformational changes to economic growth by localizing manufacturing and empowering the consumer to create products in a configuration and at a time and place of their own choosing.

This conference provides a platform for all the stakeholders in the 3-D printing technology, both from the public and private sector, to come together and advance the technology forward through knowledge sharing, cooperation, and collaboration.

We will have two action-filled days dedicated to 3-D printing in defense, space, and transportation, where most 3-D printing in large-scale manufacturing is being explored. We will kickoff the conference with prominent keynote and featured speakers providing a high altitude view o the technology. After these opening presentations, we will take a guided tour of the Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum, which is a spectacular display of the accomplishments the Nation has made in air, defense and space technologies. This will invoke the thought process and set the stage for conversation. In the afternoon, we will have two sessions on equipment, materials, techniques, processes, and computer modeling as they relate to 3-D printing technology. On the second day of the conference, we will have one session each on defense, space, and transportation applications of 3-D printing. Finally, we will close the conference with a session on path forward for 3-D printing technology, highlighting its social and economic impacts. This session will help you understand where the technology stands today and where we are going from here.

While you are in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. area, I encourage you to spare some time to explore the area, which has evolved so much during the past 25 years and has become one of the technology hubs of the Nation. I also encourage you to register for the conference and make your travel arrangements early.

I look forward to welcoming you at the conference in August.

Best regards.

Dr. Mohammad Shamim Khan

Conference Chair