Regional tech leaders tour Advanced Manufacturing Center at HV Tech Meetup

A special session of the Hudson Valley Tech (HV Tech) Meetup series was held Wednesday, June 10 at the Hudson Valley Advanced Manufacturing Center (HVAMC) on the SUNY New Paltz campus. The Meetup was organized in large part to give key stakeholders in the Hudson Valley business community a chance to learn more about 3D printing at New Paltz.

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Daniel Freedman, dean of the School of Science and Engineering and director of the HVAMC, was featured as a speaker and hosted a tour of the College’s additive manufacturing facilities. Freedman gave insight into the capabilities of 3D printing at New Paltz and talked about the support the initiative received from groups including Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation (HVEDC), Hudson River Ventures and Central Hudson.

He was joined in telling this story by Laurence P. Gottlieb, president and CEO of HVEDC. Gottlieb and HVEDC were instrumental in working with the College to plant the seeds of additive manufacturing and mechanical engineering programs currently available to students, local businesses and community members.

“We continue to partner with Dan Freedman and SUNY New Paltz to develop what has become the model for the nation for weaving 3D technology and digital design and fabrication into a regional economy,” Gottlieb said. “SUNY New Paltz has been a fantastic partner to HVEDC and the entire community.”

HV Tech Meetup is a monthly forum for creatives, engineers, entrepreneurs, educators and lovers of technology to come together, share their passions, learn about professional news and opportunities and listen to featured speakers on a variety of cutting edge tech and business topics. Meetups are typically held in Kingston and Poughkeepsie, though organizers plan to expand that to include multiple new sites up and down the river.

“We’re very excited about all the opportunities that exist for technology, design and development in the Hudson Valley,” said Dan Stone, one of the founders of the HV Tech Meetup. “We started HV Tech Meetup with only 20 members, and now we are at 472. Today’s event at SUNY New Paltz is a testament that it is working.”

“Technology maters in the Hudson Valley for a lot of reasons. It’s not just the standard measurements like income; it is that it is fulfilling, and it brings happiness,” added Kale Kaposhilin, another HV Tech Meetup founder.

Other featured speakers included Jordan Koschei, director of user experience at Fusion Media; and Pamela Pavliscak, design researcher and founder of Change Sciences.

The Meetup at New Paltz was sponsored by the HVAMC, as well as these regular HV Tech Meetup sponsors: the HVEDC and its Ulster County counterpart, the Ulster County Economic Development Alliance (UCEDA), Ellenbogen Creative Media, Evolving Media Network and Mark + Phil, a digital creative agency.

More information about the HV Tech Meetup series is available online.