Workshop: SFF Symposium Student Support 2007, held in Austin, Texas, August 6-8, 2007

2007年8月6日至8日在德克萨斯州奥斯汀举行的第十八届固体自由成形（SFF）研讨会是一个专题会议，是快速成型领域的研究交流。SFF研讨会是一个在增材自由成形制造领域传递和传播知识和理解的机制。会议吸引了来自世界各地的大学，公司和国家实验室的100多名研究人员。SFF研讨会也吸引了世界各地的研究生。2006年，大约43%的与会者是学生。与会者代表33所大学，其中16所是国际大学。强大的国际参与为国内参与者提供了获得该领域研究宝贵信息的绝佳机会。SFF研讨会是一个很好的模式，促进发现和理解，同时促进教学，培训和学习。世界一流的研究人员与学生的网络是强大的，因为会议通过其定价结构鼓励学生的参与。该会议是通过研究人员和信息网络建立研究基础设施的一个小齿轮。通过大量引用的会议记录，信息被广泛传播到世界各地的研究人员和学生的广泛网络。社会影响是识别商业化前技术和共享与自由成形制造有关的信息，这些技术最终将被开发并应用于提高国内生产力的机器和工艺。

The Eighteenth Annual Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) Symposium to be held in Austin, Texas, August 6-8, 2007, is a topical meeting that is a research exchange in the area of rapid prototyping. The SFF Symposium is a mechanism for transfer and dissemination of knowledge and understanding in the field of additive, freeform manufacturing. The meeting draws over 100 researchers from universities, companies and national laboratories from all over the world. The SFF Symposium also attracts graduate students worldwide. In 2006, approximately 43 percent of the meeting participants were students. Participants represented 33 universities, 16 of which were international. The strong international participation gives domestic participants an excellent opportunity to gain valuable information on research in the field. The SFF Symposium is an excellent model for advancing discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training and learning. The networking of world-class researchers with students is strong since the meeting encourages through its pricing structure the involvement of students. The meeting is a pinion for research infrastructure by the networking of research personnel and information. Through the heavily cited proceedings, information is widely disseminated to an extensive network of researchers and students around the world. The societal impact is identification of pre-commercial technologies and sharing of information pertaining to freeform fabrication that will eventually be developed and implemented into machines and processes that will enhance domestic productivity.