Outreach

The ZIP-AM Research Team Reaches Out… To You!

Our ZIP-AM Lab provides custom designed educational materials as well as technical discussions with industry companies. Zippers, members of the ZIP-AM team, have provided outreach presentations, workshops, research& development experiences, and demo cases to a broad range of groups free of charge, including industrial consotium/companies, professional organizations, underrepresented groups, K-12 children, and community events.

(For pictures, please visit https://www.zipam.pitt.edu/gallery/education-and-outreach)

ZIP-AM presentations/workshops/exchanges/demos are:

  • Tailored to best suit the needs of the audience
  • Focused on
    • 3D Printing Technologies and Applications
    • Computer aided Design and Manufacturing
    • Measurement Science
    • Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

We have presented ZIP-AM research to:

  • Industrial Consotium / Companies
  3. Du-Co Ceramics https://du-co.com/
  • Professional Organizations
  • Underrepresented Groups
  1. Women in 3D Printing https://womenin3dprinting.com/
  2. Minority Students in Pitt Swanson School of Engineering https://www.engineering.pitt.edu/Diversity/
  • K-12 Children
  1. Boys and Girls Clubs of West Pennsylvania (BGCWPA) https://www.bgcwpa.org/
  2. Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy (Grades 6-12) https://pittsburghscitech.com/
  • Community Events
  1. Carnegie Science Museum SciTech Exhibition 2019 https://carnegiesciencecenter.org/

Reviews

President of Du-Co Ceramic Company (2021): "Du-Co Ceramics Company feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to have discussions with and collaborate with Professor Xiayun Zhao on various aspects of this (Manufacturing PA COVID Challenge) project. Time will tell if any opportunities may come as the result of this project, however, having the ability to collaborate with Professor Xiayun Zhao on some specific details such as sintering parameters and methods for checking porosity and/or filtration test methods was enjoyable and informative.  We at Du-Co believe it is imperative to collaborate with universities and professors for many reasons.  We believe these collaborations strengthen ties between manufacturing and universities and help enable pathways for some students to gain employment opportunities with manufacturers.  We also continue to look for technology transfer ideas developing from projects such as this one.  I personally hope to have other opportunities to work with Professor Zhao in the future as it is obvious to see she has a great enthusiasm and passion in helping students grow and learn through projects such as this."

Kennametal Manager (2021): "(Through working with PI Zhao) Kennametal is very much interested in the Additive Manufacturing, photopolymerization for ceramics and has support through the technology leadership at the highest level. "

Director of STEM in BGCWPA (2021): “We enjoyed your work with us last time and hope we can do something like that again.” 

Student Parent (2020): “Xiayun, thank you for providing my daughter such a great opportunity to work on this design project and present it to the Women in 3D Printing.”

PGH SciTech School teacher Jeff (2021): "I would love to collaborate. We are always looking for new ways to innovate for our students. Currently I teach Comp Sci, and have a class involving some circuitry using Arduino Kits. In the past two years I was able to acquire a class set for students to learn with. My current goal is to get a small pod or group of tabletop 3d printers and convert my room into a makerspace (my 3-5 year goal).The webinars sound great!"

PGH SciTech School teacher (2021): "I thoroughly enjoyed the different applications of 3D printing. I think this is eye opening to the vast possibilities 3D printing has in solving real world problems."

PGH SciTech students (2021): "An engaging presentation that was well paced."  "I liked how interactive she (Dr. Zhao) was."  "I enjoyed how we were able to learn about the different types of 3D printing and find out how they were used."  "I like how informative the program is."

PGH SciTech School Science and Robotics teacher Ms. D Nav (2021): “Thank you so much for your expertise and invested time in our students :).” "Thank you so much for extending your expertise to our students. Our 7th grade students have some limited application knowledge of how 3D printing is used in industry and I believe has been a very robust source of information of how this technology is further used in research and additive manufacturing." "I think your use of diagrams and video explanations are very helpful! Some students (6th and 7th grade) do not have vast knowledge of the electromagnetic spectrum and ultrasonic sound properties outside of their robotics classroom. Your presentation did a nice job of bridging this knowledge gap. "

PGH SciTech a female student (2021): "Thank you for the awesome presentation! I think this was very impactful for my interests in the future.”

PGH SciTech an 11th Grade student (2021): : "I enjoyed seeing all of the different applications, and how important just one field is to so many others. I am planning to work in a STEM related jobthat involves several fields, and seeing the intersections between them is very helpful."