SAMPE Journal - November/December 2016 - 30

North America Report

Rick Willardson
Pressurized Structures Lead, Firefly Space Systems
rick_willardson@live.com

I am writing this article just as we have wrapped up CAMX 2016. It was another successful event. I had an
enjoyable week networking with colleagues, attending technical sessions and walking the exhibition floor.
We have now completed the full CAMX trifecta with our events in Orlando, Dallas and Anaheim. CAMX
has become the premiere event we envisioned it could be.
I particularly enjoyed getting to know my ACMA counterpart Mr. Jeff Craney of Crane Composites. We
got to know each other as we rehearsed and performed the welcoming portion of the general session.
Throughout the week we had several other opportunities to talk. It became clear to me that the success of
CAMX is due to the synergies of our two organizations. However, there is always room for improvement.
The SAMPE and ACMA staffs, the CAMX steering committee and volunteers from both organizations are
already discussing how to make CAMX 2017 in Orlando even better. So stay tuned!
At CAMX, I was also honored to present Dr. Scott Beckwith with the inaugural Distinguished Service Award
from SAMPE North America. Scott has served the society with a passion for many years and I don't know
of anyone more deserving! Further, this award also represents a major reworking of our award practices for
SAMPE North America. These revisions represent almost two years' worth of work and should be finally
documented in our practices by time you read this article.
In the show and flash that has become CAMX, it is easy to forget the work done by a host of volunteers to
bring a massive technical conference together. There are two entire pages in the conference program listing
the committee members and category chairs. In fact, too many for me to count. These folks put together
a solid technical program for CAMX 2016. Such a program is really beyond the reach of our professional
staffs and would be impossible without out our volunteers. I would like to thank all the volunteers who
participated in the technical program. Further, I would specifically like to thank the SAMPE technical
subcommittee from the Utah and Rocky Mountain Chapters - Co-chairs, David Fullwood and DeWayne
Howell; and committee members David Kehrl, David Moon, Donald Radford and Suraj Rawal.
Speaking of volunteers, we have a lot of excellent volunteer work going on in our strategic roadmap
taskforces. Our Information and Expertise Taskforce has setup a SAMPE YouTube Channel for sharing
materials and processing information through YouTube videos. To submit a video, go to www.nasampe.
org and search for "YouTube submission". That will take you to a page with further information on how
to submit a video. To watch videos, use YouTube's search feature with the society's full name to find the
channel (just the abbreviation "SAMPE" won't find it). There are only a couple of videos there now, but
hopefully that will change soon. In fact, by the time you read this article; I hope to have posted a video of
the Composite Materials Merit Badge sponsored by the DFW SAMPE chapter at the Ft. Worth air show.
This is a great event my chapter has been helping with for the last 5 years. As many as 60 scouts get to
complete the projects for their merit badge and enjoy a half day at the air show. Again, made possible
by a collection of volunteers and corporate sponsors - Tony Bergerson, Bell Helicopter, Tarrant County
Community College, Huntsman, A&P and Dunstone. I personally can't wait to participate again this year!
Finally, we are discussing ways to make volunteering at SAMPE easier and how to get more people involved.
Watch the SAMPE website in the coming months for a listing of opportunities to help the society with its
mission to serve the materials and processing community.

SAMPE Journal, Volume 52, No. 6, November/December 2016

http://www.nasampe.org http://www.nasampe.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SAMPE Journal - November/December 2016