About Us
Americas Additive Foundry. org
Vision
Securing the supply of specialty alloys and maintaining the ability to conduct C&F operations in the So u thern Gulf Coastal Plains of Texas region .
Mission
Develop, demonstrate and implement additive/hybrid/convergent manufacturing technologies to modernize America’s foundry operations at Texas Coastal Plains region through advanced research, technical support, business development, and workforce training with a focus on Small Manufacturers . - Workforce Development : The AAF Consortium leverage our past experiences in outreach, training and education to solve talent gap through BS, 4+1 MS programs, certificate/training programs. We work with partners including America Makes, Tooling U- SME, ARM Institute, ACE, and Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center to provide upskilling and reskilling of incumbent workforce especially for Small & Medium-Sized Manufacturers.
- Cyber Posture : We promote secured cyber system to connect Small & Medium-Sized Manufacturers to the Tactical Alloys supply chains within defense ecosystem.
- Support modernization of the C&F Processes through research and development projects on Additive/Hybrid/Convergent Manufacturing.
- Support business development through the AAF Demonstration Hub; Link Small & Medium-Sized Manufacturers with DoD contractors; Provide localized technical support for innovation, commercialization and implementation of proposed technologies.
The AAF Consortium plans to serve the TX-SGCP region .The major metroplexes in this region include Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and the Rio Grande Valley.
The overall population of these counties in 2021 was 13,392,472 people . The overall number of jobs in this region in 2021 was 6,281,083, an increase of 217,082 from 2016. This number is projected to increase by 354,115 in the next five years. The job field of interest for the proposed AAF Consortium is metal manufacturing.
Metal manufacturing can be broken into primary and fabricated metal manufacturing. Primary metal manufacturing refers to refining ferrous or nonferrous materials from ore, pig, or scrap. Texas was ranked #4 in the country in primary metal manufacturing employment in 2019. However, Texas’ greatest strength is in metal fabrication, which involves using processes such as forging or casting to create final goods. Texas ranks #2 in employing setters, operators, and tenders for extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machines [ vii ], #2 in Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems and #1 in structural metal fabrication and fitting employment .
For both primary and fabricated metal manufacturing, the metropolitan region of Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land ranks no worse than #5 in employment among all American cities. Within the state of Texas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin rank #1, #4, and #5 , respectively, in the number of businesses for both primary and fabricated metal manufacturing.
Thus, TX-SGCP plays a key role in employing people that work to produce critical components for the supply chain supporting manufacturing sectors in Texas, the United States, and internationally.
Meet Our Team
Dr. Jianzhi 'James' Li
Director
Dr. Joseph Beaman
Director of Research
Dr. Thomas Kurfess
Director of the Board
Dr. F. Frank Chen
Site Director
Dr. Ben Xu
Site Director
Dr. Mostafa Malki
Executive Director
Josh Cramer
Workforce Dev.
Gretchen Schultz
Curriculum
Mary Ellen Rich
Skill Analysis
Dr. Farid Ahmed
Additive Manufacturing
Dr. Yangyang Long
Forging
Dr. Benjamin Peters
Quality Control
Dr. Nazmul Ahsan
AI & MACHINE LEARNING
Students Supported by America's Additive Foundry:
Senior in Electrical Engineer.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
I am very interested in Haptic Technology, Power Grids, Renewable Energy, and Circuit Designs.
Senior in Computer Science.
Working on the digital twin project.
Interested in Augmented-Reality, Game Development, Databases, Machine Learning, & AI.
Junior Manufacturing Engineering.
Working as an Undergraduate Research Assistant.
My current project involves research on Laser Powder Bed Fusion of Nitinol (super-elastic alloy).
Research areas of interest include Additive Manufacturing and Advanced Materials.
Master's in Manufacturing Engineering.
Research interests include Additive Manufacturing and Material Science.
Pursuing my Master's in Manufacturing Engineering.
My project is Laser Additive Manufacturing
Senior in Mechanical Engineering.
Area of research is materials engineering and composite manufacturing.