The Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) has presented the 2020 DINO Awards (Distinguished Innovator Operator) to ten select individuals. The prestigious award is intended to mark and celebrate expertise and service in the field of additive manufacturing (and is, quite fittingly, in the shape of a brachiosaurus).
Instead of the usual on-stage ceremony at the annual AMUG Conference, the committee opted for a virtual event in light of a certain global pandemic. Still, the magic and delight of receiving the award was carried over as the DINOs learned of the honor when a surprise delivery showed up at their homes.
Carl Dekker, President of AMUG, stated: “These are unprecedented times, so we took the unprecedented step of making virtual award presentations. We did everything we could to preserve the suspense and surprise to make this a special moment in the additive manufacturing careers of our new DINOs.”
What are the DINO Awards?
A DINO Award is a recognition of an individual’s contribution to the additive manufacturing industry. It is exclusively for those that have devoted time and energy to providing accessible skills and knowledge to others in the industry – all with the intent of advancing additive manufacturing as a whole.
Gary Rabinovitz, AMUG chairman and chair of the DINO Selection Committee, explains: “At the heart of this award is a passion for and dedication to additive manufacturing coupled with a desire to share and to be accessible to others. The new DINOs truly embody what the DINO Award stands for.”
AMUG has been running the awards for 32 years, yet only 168 individuals have received them to date as a maximum of only 10 may be given out in any one year.
The 2020 DINOs
The ten individuals selected for this year’s DINO Awards are:
- Jeff DeGrange, Impossible Objects
- Bob Diaz, College of Southern Nevada
- Leslie Frost, GE Additive
- Youping Gao, Castheon
- Ed Graham, ProtoCAM
- Paul Hojan, Christie Digital
- Evan Kirby, Materialise
- Ulf Lindhe, Oqton
- Dana McCallum, Carbon
- Bob Wood, ExOne
A recorded broadcast of the virtual awards ceremony is available here. AMUG will begin accepting nominations for the 2021 DINO Awards on the 1st of October, 2020.
The 2020 AMUG Conference was originally set to take place from March 22 – 26, but was postponed to 2021 when the Governor of Illinois issued a Disaster Proclamation in early March. The five day event would have featured a number of in-depth presentations from keynote speakers, as well as educational training sessions from industry experts.
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Featured image shows the AMUG DINO award. Photo via AMUG.
