In the summer of 1996 I had my first exposure to 3D Printing and additive manufacturing.  I did a summer internship at the University of Southern Mississippi polymer program.  It was a great experience where I caught some Olympic soccer, spent weekends in New Orleans and had some great seafood.  One thing that I could never forget though was my first exposure to 3D printing. In the basement of the polymer building there was a device they called a “3D printer”, but it didn’t look like any printer I had ever seen.  This printer cost the school hundreds of thousands of dollars and was the size of an economy car.  The machine used nylon powder and an energy source to meld together simple objects.  They made Millennium Falcons from Star Wars, key chains and their pride and joy was a crescent wrench printed as one single piece that actually moved.  I remember after my tour they gave my a key chain printed with the university logo and I still have that key chain.  I never forgot what I saw that day and I’m unbelievably excited to explore this 3D universe!