The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University hosted Dr. Joseph J. Beaman, the Earnest F. Gloyna Regents Chair at The University of Texas at Austin, for its 2015 Fowler Distinguished Lecture Series. Beaman adds to the list of nationally recognized engineers and scientists who have been invited to lecture as part of the graduate program seminar class.
Beaman pioneered Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF), also called 3-D printing in the mid-1980s, and has made continuing contributions to the field. He was the first academic researcher in the field and he led a group of students and colleagues at the University of Texas that developed Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), which is now the most successful 3-D printing process for direct production of high-value, functional parts. During the lecture Beaman discussed 3-D printing, solid freeform fabrication, additive manufacturing and the history of the process control for the technologies. These technologies are, for the most part, additive processes that build up parts layer by layer.
The Fowler Distinguished Lecture series was endowed by Mr. Donald Fowler ‘66 and Dr. Joe Fowler ‘68 in 1999. Don Fowler is the owner of Fowler Energy Company, which provides energy cost reduction services to users of electricity, natural gas and wastewater. He is is currently a member of the President’s Council of Advisors at Texas A&M University. Joe Fowler is president and co-founder of Stress Engineering Services, Inc., an engineering consulting firm that provides design, analysis and testing services to a variety of industries. He is also the Chair of the Dwight Look College of Engineering Advisory Council.