THIRTY UNDER THIRTY PROFILES
Andrew Dalman Age: 23
North Dakota State University Fargo, ND
UNDER THIRTY A
ndy Dalman was a tinkerer from a young age. He grew up playing with Legos and quickly graduated to using screwdrivers, hammers and the like to take apart house-
hold items—electronics, vacuums, and anything else he could get his hands on. “To my mother’s relief I would usually get it back together properly,” he joked.
That natural curiosity and innovative spirit of Andy’s never left. Currently a student at North Dakota State University in Manufacturing Engineering, Andy’s ac- complishments are numerous. He holds a patent to his name, has started an engineering consulting company and is developing a 3D-printed prosthetic for a three- year-old boy as part of his capstone project.
The catalyst for much of this success is the Bison Microventure, a unique course offered at NDSU that is a one-credit elective formatted as a research project. The overarching goal of the course is to develop a new type of artificial jaw dental implant using ceramic. Andy’s team realized they would need to mimic both the mechanical and physical proper- ties of human bone as closely as possible in order to test the jaw implant. They chose an engineered composite material that best achieved this, and Andy designed the additive manufacturing techniques used to create the outer shell of simulated cortical bone and an inner core of porous trabecular bone in the same process. A patent was filed for this project, with Andy as a lead inventor. As interest in the project and the patent grew, the team expanded the scope from artificial jaw to artificial
Andy designed the additive manufacturing techniques used to create the outer shell of simulated cortical bone and an inner core of porous trabecular bone in the same process.
bone. Andy and Dr. David Wells, who oversees the Microventure program, filed a proposal for “Material Compositions for Artificial Bone Fabrication” and suc- ceeded in winning a grant in November 2014. Artificial bone has plenty of potential applications, Andy explained. For schools that need to test how a medical device affects bone but can’t afford cadav- ers or to jump through heaps of red tape and regula- tions, artificial bone provides the same properties as the real thing with less of the hassle. And, it’s easy to customize attributes like bone density or geometry. “For us, those are just process variables,” Andy said. Not long after the first year of the Microventure, Andy decided to use his experience to help others successfully translate their ideas into a final product. He started a company after seeing so many of his peers struggle with the innovation process. He provides design assistance and prototyping services,
and he advises clients on ways to minimize costs, which he says is the number one barrier to a final product for an inventor. His entrepreneurial spirit doesn’t end there. He hopes to turn his senior capstone project, which is to design a prosthetic arm for a three-year-old boy primarily using additive manufacturing, into a nonprofit charity to provide prosthetics at no cost to the patient or family.
Andy is also a representative for STEM education as a member of NDSU’s University Innovation Fellows program, and he has been an invited speaker at One Million Cups, a weekly networking event for entrepre- neurs, and Health Pitch Fargo.
July 2015 |
AdvancedManufacturing.org 93
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168