The field of Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) has developed significantly over the fast 15 years. The ability to make a part quickly with minimal imitations on geometric shape has spawned applications in the fields of transportation, medicine, the military, microelectronics, and others. With this growth has developed the need for researchers to meet to discuss fundamental and developmental issues of SFF. The annual SFF Symposium was first held in 1990 to provide a forum for technical exchange of all aspects of SFF: materials, process development, physical and computational modeling, and applications. It is the oldest continuous meeting in the area and is reputed to be one of the top research meetings in the world.
From the beginning, the philosophy of the SFF Symposium Organizing Committee of student involvement has been crucial to the success of the meeting and the field. Student involvement is encouraged by offering a student registration rate that is approximately one-third of the regular rate and which for the last several years has in fact been below the per capita break-even cost. This subsidy has been effective in attracting students. In 2000, approximately 31% of the entire meeting were students. Participants represented 27 universities (10 international universities). The interaction with the scientific leaders of the field is beneficial to these young scientists and represents an investment in the future of the US scientific infrastructure.
